Bless the child
by not-a-mastermind
Summary: When the past comes knocking on an old team mates door it's a race against time to set things right and change the future for the better. Bad summary.
1. The journey begins

**disclamer: I don't own Criminal Minds (wish I did) or the charaters (except my oc girl). Not beted so any mistakes are mine. I love reviews, so feel free to leave one!**

**The longest journey begins with a single step -****Lao-tzu**

_The pressure was bearing down so hard it made her already burning lungs pulse with liquid fire. Her hands pushed and clawed at the dirt surrounding her. Not daring to open her eyes she struggled for her life blind, deaf, and weak like a baby. As her mind started to go blank and her last thoughts float through her head her fingers emerged from the dirt into the night above. Wiggling for purchase on anything her hands followed, then her arms. Grasping at some grass left scattered here and there, she gave everything into one weak pull. Her head appearing rising from the ground, dirt sliding away she gasped blessed life giving air into her system. A few more gulps and she twisted the rest of her body from her almost grave. Not having the strength to stand she crawled to the nearest pile of dirt and began to dig like a dog. Wheezing and hacking despite her mouth being empty she gained speed. She came upon a face and clearing the mouth and nose area stuck a finger past the bluish lips into the mouth. With one hand she continued to dig the other shoved the finger into the back of a throat. After a moment life seemed to spark and the mouth opened on its own bile coming forth. Pulling her finger out she turned the head to the side letting the sludge that came up trickle down the side of the face. Several minutes later having dug the rest of the body from the dirt she lifted it from the hole. The body breathed in hitching breaths, the eyes opened but looked at nothing. She tried to talk to the body, get it to answer her but nothing changed. She cried as she grabbed the skinny arms and was forced to drag the body into the woods. It was a very slow pace through a dark nightmare that went on for hours. After what seemed like an eternity the sun began to rise, and with it hope as she came to a road. A road meant cars and cars meant people and people meant help. She lay the body on some grass a ways from the road and sat down to wait. _

_It took a long time but at last she heard it. A car. She ran to the road and waved her arms, jumping up and down as it approached. Some kind of Jeep looking thing was coming around a slight corner. It screeched to a stop not three feet from her and a middle aged man got out of the driver's side. A woman came from the passenger side seconds after him. "Oh my God are you alright?" The woman got to her first the man right behind. _

"_Help me," was all she could say as new tears sprang into her eyes. The man looked around the area for signs of where she could have come from as the woman looked her over. "Help us" she asked the woman as she began getting her crying under control._

"_Us? Is there someone else here sweet heart?" The woman was looking around now too. She nodded her head and taking the woman's hand started walking over to the body. The man followed and seeing the body ran over and knelt down beside it. Checking it over he turned to the woman, "He's alive."_

She woke up with a start as a hand gently shook her shoulder. "Miss, this is your stop" a kindly old man looked at her. She looked out the window at the bus depot and sighed. "Thank you," she smiled at the man and standing up stretched a bit. "Excuse me," she pressed herself against the seats in front of her and slid by him. Once in the isle she reached up and grabbed her carry on from the compartment above the seats. Then she walked to the front of the bus and out into the depot. The handlers were unpacking the baggage from the side and she had only to wait a few minutes before retrieving hers. Making sure she had everything she stepped away from the busy depot and into the city. The last leg of her journey was about to start and it made her nervous and yet excited. She had a mission to complete it was true but also a journey she had been on for ten years and it was almost over. She was so close she could taste it in the air which hung humid and still about her. Well every journey began with a single step and she took hers as she started off towards the lower end of the city.


	2. Just checking

"**Before beginning a hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it." -****Winnie the Pooh**

She got more than a few looks as she made her way down the busy streets of the capital. She was used to this but in such a large city surely she didn't stick out too much. There was so much history and so much to see around her but she had to keep her mind focused on finding a hotel for the night. One that hopefully didn't cost too much and didn't look like a flop house about to be raided. She began looking in the side streets and off the main roads for hotels. After a good hour of walking the beat she discovered a decent looking place with a fair enough price. The room was small, holding a twin bed, side table and small tv. The bathroom held a shower stall directly next to the toilet and a sink just a step away. To be fair the room was clean, and there was internet hook up. This would be her base of operation for the next two days, then all bets were off. Not bothering to unpack she simply took out her toiletries bag and set it in the bathroom before setting up her computer and logging on to the net. She had done her research before she came; it was all printed out and sorted into a files folder in her bag. But she couldn't help but check on things just the same. She was able to hack her way into the soft serving base of the FBI building in Virginia and see the hours it was open, when it closed, when visitor screening officers were changed, and when the mail and other deliveries came. It was vital that she know the schedule for the next two days. If she was going to get in to see him, to hopefully speak with him. She had to, this was what she'd waited for, and what she desperately needed. Others were counting on her to reach him. His name was neatly scrawled across one of the files and on a postage box she would use to get to him. Jason Gideon. A simple name and yet it made her feel so many things. Well she would wait until tomorrow when she could scope out the building, see with her own eyes the obstacles in her way. With her checking done and nothing to do until evening she decided to go out and see a few sights of the city. Who knew what she could discover in such a place.

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There it was again! A little annoyance in her alert system she had set up just a month ago. Garcia's fingers were immediately flying over the keys. Some one was trying to get in, or in this case had got in. The information system she had put together for the teams use was a powerful entity to which she had been given her own server network system. However she still kept a line on to the buildings network from time to time. And that was how she had stumbled across the intruder. At first it looked like a messy attempt to have some fun, maybe by a beginning hacker. One who was very sloppy and let a big trail behind them. However when she went to close the door and clean up the mess she relived three things. The mess and wide announcement had been a rouge, there was information missing and tampered with, and when she went to trace the signal she couldn't. It had peeked her interest to say the least and she had run a search to see if anything else was wrong. The results had come back with the fact that this hacker had been here before. Like this time, not much had been touched, nothing of life threatening use at least. But she had decided to keep an eye out to try and catch the little visitor. No reason to tell Hotch or heaven forbid Strauss for such a small matter. All had been quite till now. Quickly checking all the files she found nothing missing or removed. Whoever this was, they were up to something and it frustrated her to no end that she couldn't figure out what it was. All she got on her trace was that the hacker was in the eastern half of the US. This did not bode well but again there was not threat made or perceived. She would just have to keep an eye out and try harder to latch on to this pest. Then she might send her favorite gentleman agent to scare them off. It made her smile as she updated the security on the system and reset her trigger. With that done it was back to work on a list search for one of the other teams downstairs.

_**(Ok so the rest of the team enters in the next chapter! Sorry this one is so short, studying for finals.)**_


	3. Phase 1 stealth

"**In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and ****stealth****.****" - Patti Smith**

The city had held many sites but she had decided to visit some of the quieter ones after the small scene a group of school children had caused at the Jefferson Memorial. Even still she had enjoyed the afternoon which had helped calm her nerves about the next day. She decided to eat out in a little café just off the main path for sightseers. She after all was not a sight to be watched with her appearance and odd eating habits. Upon retiring to her room after dinner she began to lay out her disguise for entry into the Federal building. Brown slacks, white tee-shirt, brown shirt over that, with a brown baseball cap and black work sneakers with white socks. The shirt and hat labeled carefully with the UPS federal branch delivery round. A name tag read Amy. Simple, not flashy, common authorized pass to enter. In the bathroom she laid out a wig and a medium sized makeup kit. She could change the way she looked to ordinary, boring, something no one would bother looking closely at. She was about the right size and had chosen the hair color of one of the substitute drivers she had seen in a few of the security tapes she had observed from her hacking. And with the delay from a mix up in packaging the real truck driver would face tomorrow after she visited their main delivery hub she would have no problem slipping in. Not having a truck was taken care of by the fact she could slip one out of the hub's maintenance bay and have it back before it was noticed. She had timed the deliveries with the mechanics shifts and lot positions. It had taken her a whole day and triple checking to get the math and timing down pat for that part but she was sure she could pull it off. She lay the files on top of the desk and the bait box next to it. All things ready she slipped into bed and fell into an uneasy sleep.

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She woke the next day to the alarm she'd set and groaned. Feeling as if she hadn't gotten much sleep at all she began her preparations for the day. A shower and then an hour of applying the makeup, leaving no detail out. Dressing then adding the wig and cap she gathered her papers and the box and a pre-packed bag for her "escape" after she made it out of the days mission. She grabbed a tea and an apple from a vender on the street as she hailed a cab to take her to her first mission. The UPS federal hub wasn't the most secure of places and with her uniform and a warm hello she slipped in easily working her way to the maintenance bay. She pretended to look for an opening in the schedule as she lifted a key to one of the trucks in the back lot that didn't have an obvious breakdown problem. Getting to the truck took some time but she made it. Waiting till everyone was inside she started it and pulled round to the front of the building. Leaving her things on the floor just behind the driver's seat she got out and wandered over to the truck that usually delivered to the FBI building. It's usual driver was still inside, no doubt grabbing a last minute coffee. She climbed in and went to the back to look for any packages to the building. There were a few small ones and a large box. The smaller ones she could take, the larger one she hid behind some others at a further destination. By the time the box would be discovered she could be out of the building and the mix up explained as just that. Taking the smaller items she headed back to her borrowed truck and started off to her stop.

She took her time as to not be too early that any unease or curiosity could be handled with a slow day or some other off comment. Parking in the designated zone she took the packages she stole plus her own and entered the building's main floor. She walked tall, head tilted slightly down, moved at a steady pace and vaguely waved at the older security guard as she passed through the metal detector. Except for the packages she had grabbed she had been careful to avoid all metal that would set off the alarm. No one stopped her as she went to the far elevator and pressed the button to go up. No one gave her more than a quick glance and no one tried to talk to her. The elevator arrived and two people in suits got off not bothering to look at her. She got on and pressed the button to close the doors before hitting the button to head up to the fourth floor where the mail room was. She did have packages to drop off as well as not pull any unwanted attention to herself. She got off when the doors opened on the correct floor and walked to the mail room. She quickly left all the packages here except for the one she had brought. That she tucked under her arm and headed off again to the elevator. Once again along in the elevator she went up to the fifth floor where the man she sought worked. Once there however she went straight to the restroom just a ways across from the elevator. Inside she checked to make sure she was alone she opened the box and took out a rush mailing folder. It was addressed to one of the agents on this floor, she had drawn their name from a list. Inside the folder a ticket to dinner and a show for two that they had won from a contest. The contest was bogus and the tickets had been gained from hacking. It was all a diversion to get into the area of her target. She could walk around a bit before getting to the right agent then take her time giving him the package and slowly leaving. In total only about a seven to nine minute window but it was all she would need to scope out the offices and staff. She had not been able to hack into this section of the security or server mainframe, the system was very complicated and independent. She's almost been caught when she had attempted it the first time. She had not tried again. In a stall she stood on a toilet seat and reached a ceiling panel above her, and pushing it up to revile a hollow full of wires she added her box. Moving the panel back she got down whipped the seat and exited the restroom. Walking a few feet she entered the bull pen of the famous BAU unit of the FBI.

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Reid had been at his desk for an hour now but the pile of files on his desk never seemed to get smaller for some reason. He sighed and looked at his coffee cup. It was empty. He sat back for a moment before putting down his pen and reaching for his cup. "_Time for more coffee, I hope there's some left"_ he thought as he got up and headed to the kitchen. Sometimes when all the other agents came in for the morning rush they tended to empty the pot and not start a new one. He would always start a new one but he would like it if there was already some there instead of having to wait for it. As he entered the kitchen a woman walked by him so close they almost touched. She seemed to be lost in thought until he took in her uniform. Delivery, must be in an offal hurry then, perhaps a busy day. Seeing the coffee pot empty he wanted to groan but just went about starting a fresh pot.

"Oh good coffee is on the way," Morgan's voice came from behind him. He suppressed the urge to jump and instead turned on his coworker and friend.

"Don't do that, I could have dropped something" Reid spotted the bemused look in Morgan's eyes at his comment. Reid knew that he hadn't done it out of spite or meanness but to annoy him a bit. Morgan was always trying to tease him in a light hearted manor. Deep down he liked it, it was what he supposed having an older brother would be like but he wouldn't show it.

"Did someone say good coffee? Is there such a thing here?" Prentiss's voice sounded from the doorway as she walked in and headed over the cupboard by the sink where all the mugs were held.

"Yeah, pretty boy's starting us a fresh batch and you know what that means, it's the best this place is going to get." Morgan used his pet name to pull his thoughts away from the earlier scare. It worked a bit as Reid groaned.

"I can't help it if I like my coffee to not taste three days old and put though a dirty sock like yours," Reid hit back at Morgan for both of his teasing barbs. Morgan fake winced and raised a hand to his chest and clutched.

"Oh you wound me!" he laughed after and went over to get his own mug and the sugar which Reid would use to thicken his coffee to an almost sludge. It was a wonder the kid wasn't diabetic. They allowed Reid to get his coffee first as he had just made it before getting their own. Without much further ado they headed back to their own desks not even noticing the delivery girl subtitling watching them from the corner of her eye, head slightly cocked to listen.

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She had wondered around the perimeter of the bull pen before zig zagging through the middle. She had spotted the agent she had chosen and returned to the outer perimeter to approach him. As she made her way to his desk she narrowly missed walking into an agent on his way into the little kitchenette they had for their coffee breaks. It took everything she had to keep going, not stop and almost apologized and most of all not to stare. He had been young, kinda cute but most of all there had been a deep sense of familiarity about him. One that had nothing to do with pleasant thoughts, but with the nightmare that had brought her here in the first place. She reached the agent, explained the envelope was hand delivery only, it had been scanned, was safe, could he sign this piece of conformation paper, thank you, have a nice day. On her way back she stopped by the kitchen door and bent down and pretended to tie her shoe before standing back up and slowly making her way towards the restroom again. The whole way there she kept her eyes and ears open to the agents and the man she'd almost hit. They joked about coffee before exiting and heading back to their desks. She watched them before slipping into the restroom. She took a deep breath and let it out trying to focus. She couldn't get her thoughts off the young man and it was costing her time. She had to leave, she'd been there to long already. Once again making sure she was alone she retrieved her box and hurried to the elevator and back down to the lobby. Back on the ground floor she made her way to a small alcove that looked like a hall but held an inlaid doorway. It was out of the way but she still had to be sure no one saw her. Very quickly she opened her package and took out a roll of electrical tape and cracked the door open. Ripping off several small pieces she placed then vertically over the locking bolt hole. She added a empty gum wrapper and taped the top and bottom base with horizontal strips before tossing the box and tape outside and closing the door. Re-entering the lobby she walked quickly out joining a group in suits as they left to blend in and not stand out. Outside she moved the truck from its spot down a block or two before getting out and doubling back to the ally where she had thrown the box and tape. Retrieving them is was back to the truck and back to the UPS hubs maintenance bay. She had stayed longer then she had liked at the federal building and had to wait an extra fifteen minutes for the mechanics to leave the truck yard and sneak the truck back in. She didn't bother replacing the key exactly, she dropped it on the table below the key hooks to make it look like it fell when another had been retrieved. It was all done without her having to stop and look out of place. With that done she exited and walked a block taking off her cap and outer shirt. Opening her bag she pulled out a jacket and another hat which she put on. Coming to a bus stop she sat on the bench, pulled off her shoes and replaced them with brown pumps. The few other people at the stop didn't give her much attention. They were business like people who were probably used to changes in cloths from various errands run during the day. Not five minutes later the bus pulled up and she got on and was gone from the area without a hitch in her plans.

_**(Okay first of all thank you to everyone who reviewed, second finals are over so more updates soon, third this chapter is a little longer but I promise more of the team and a mission reviled in the next two chapters.)**_


	4. phase 2 confrontation

"**The really difficult moral issues arise, not from a ****confrontation**** of good and evil, but from a collision between two goods****" -Irving Kristol**

That night she could hardly sleep as she thought about the day. She would finally get to meet Him. She knew she could convince him to help her. If the case she offered if wasn't enough she would be the final nail in the coffin, that last push over the edge. And if not then it would have all been for nothing and she would want nothing to do with him. But she was sure it wouldn't happen like that, it couldn't. No it was best to rest now, she needed to be in top shape tomorrow. So she closed her eyes and steadied her breathing and let go of her thoughts. It worked.

Opening her eyes the alarm that every hotel came standard with was blaring out some country song. She shut it off and got ready for the day. Much like the day before she showered first, but this time there was no wig, no makeup. However she did have a disguise that would help her enter the building. Thanks to the tape on the little noticed door in the lobby yesterday she could get in without having to go through the metal detectors and the personal security. She'd be close to the elevators too so anyone who tried to stop her might not be able to. Her disguise today was a personal messenger service outfit. She again had the baited post office box. But this time it held all the papers she'd need to convince him and his team to help her, and for him to accept her. She skipped breakfast this time and caught a bus that would in the end take her back to the stop she'd gotten on the day before. Walking to the building and down the alley she found the door she'd rigged. Pulling one of the pieces of tape that lay horizontal it came loose and she did the same to the other. Have both she pulled them causing the door to open a bit before the tape started to come loose on the other side. The crack was all she needed; she stuck her fingers in and open the door the rest of the way. Looking in she saw no one and slipped in pulling all the tape and the wrapper from the door. The tape and wrapper had done its trick, keeping the door open while making the alarm system think everything was okay last night. She wadded up the sticky mess and threw it in a trash can by the elevator as she pushed the button to go up. It must have been close to the ground floor because it arrived in less than a minute and there was no one in it. She was the only one to get on and she pressed the button for the fifth floor. The elevator made no other stops and went straight up. She would have believed in luck she would have thought this was luck in her favor a "lucky day". But to her it was all just a random series of events taking place as they should, a plan already worked out coming ripe. The elevator stopped the doors opened and seeing the familiar bull pen from the day before she took a deep breath and stepped out. The bull pen was quite a bit emptier then it had been the day before, then again it was earlier in the morning then it had been the day before. Walking up to a desk with a middle aged woman typing away on her computer she stopped. She had been the day before to get the lay of the land and provide an entrance but she had not been to the upper level of the bull pen where the offices of the senior staff were. There were several offices there with name plates on the door but she couldn't read them all yesterday and had no idea which one he was in. Thus she waited for the woman to look up at her. And look the woman did, blinking several times before finally coming to herself.

"Is there something I can do for you?" She looked again taking in the uniform this time before looking back at her face.

"Yes, package for Jason Gideon. Important hand delivery only" she was calm, like this was perfectly normal. Believe you belong, act like you belong, know you belong and you will belong. It was something she had learned that had helped her many times for many different reasons. However the woman looked a little nervous but slowly nodded.

"Just a moment, I'll check if he's in," the woman reached for her phone without looking away from her but she had to once the phone was in her hand. She pressed a numbered line so there was no number to memorize but that was okay. "Um yes, there's a package here. A package for Gideon. The messenger said it's important so it's hand delivery. Yes sir I'll do that. Yes sir I will." The woman held a conversation with someone but it wasn't the one she'd come for. His boss maybe? The woman hung up and turned back to her. "There is a conference room just to the right of the water cooler. You can deliver it to him there" the woman pointed to a closed door just where as had mentioned.

Leaving the woman with a nod she walked through the bull pen to the door in question. She knocked and waited. It took everything to wait for an answer and not start bouncing on her toes. She was so close, within less the fifty feet from him. A muffled but still stiff "Come in" was issued from the other side a few moments later and so that was what she did.

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The day had started normally or as normal as normal can be for the BAU team. Hotch was first in the office, he always was being the leader. Second varied between Rossi and Prentiss, today it was Rossi, Prentiss came in minutes latter a large cup of Starbucks in hand. Morgan was next, then JJ and finally Reid. They all got to work filling out paper work and going over old reports before JJ made her rounds informing them they had a couple of potential cases to look at. They all moved to the conference room to go over the choices.

"I know we usually only have one but both these cases look like they could use our help, however I want to go over them with you so you can chose the one with a more intimate threat." JJ started by passing out two folders to each of the team members. "First is a case in Montana, three women have been found over the course of three weeks all of them with their throats cut. They were all left on park benches at night and found in the morning by joggers. They still had all their belongings so it wasn't a robbery." The team looked over the files as she spoke, looking at reports and photos of the crime scenes. She finished with that and waited a moment for them to finish with the files. "The next is in New York, six victims, both male and female, all Caucasian, aging between twenty-three and thirty. All are musicians, all had half their fingers removed. They all disappeared after a performance and were found a day later in their homes. COD is a mix between shock, blood loss and exposure to cold." Again the team looked through the second file as JJ went over it. "Both have a certain time line about them which is why…" but she never got to finish as the phone in the middle of the conference table rang. Everyone turned to look at it. They weren't supposed to get calls in here while they were discussing a case unless it was from Garcia and she wasn't here yet. After it rang a second time Hotch picked it up.

"Hotchner."

"Um yes, there's a package here." Can the voice of a woman Hotch identified as Agent Cole.

"What kind of package?" Hotch was annoyed now. They were busy with something important and she'd called for mail. This was not acceptable.

"A package for Gideon."

This was unusual, Gideon had been gone for two years now. Any packages and awkward phone calls had stopped coming in years ago.

"The messenger said it's important so it's hand delivery." Agent Cole went on when he didn't answer her.

"Send her here I want to get this," he replied both curious and cautious. He had a feeling whatever this was, was going to get very complicated, very fast.

"Yes sir I'll do that." Agent Cole sounded a bit relieved.

"As soon as she's away from you call back give a quick description on her and the package then get any agents away from the door until we give the all clear." The rest of the team who had been interested in the conversation were now on alert.

"Yes sir I will." And with that agent Cole hung up.

"What was that about?" Rossi asked before anyone else could.

"A messenger with a package for Gideon, hand delivery," Hotch answered.

"He's been gone for a while why would one come now?" Morgan looked confused.

"Could it be a threat, or a bomb, some sort of revenge? If the sender or the deliverer if they are the same was in prison and is out now they might not realize he's gone." Prentiss was next with her theory. Before anyone else could say anything the phone rang again. Hotch hit the speaker button this time.

"Yes," he let agent Cole know to speak.

"The package is a small post office box like the over night kind, the way it's carried doesn't look like it's heavy or movement sensitive. Woman, early twenties, weird looking, she's there," came agent Cole's hushed and most whispered report before she hung up. A second later there was a knock on the door. Hotch hung up and all eyes focused on the door.

"Come in," Hotch called after a few seconds. The door opened and their mystery guest stepped inside, closing the door behind her.

_**(Oh a cliffhanger! But not to fear, answers abound in the next chapter! Which will be up in a day or so. Thanks again for ready, any comments or questions feel free to review by hitting that little button below.)**_

_**(P.S. To those reading my other story I will post another chapter within the next day or two.)**_


	5. The truth

"**The ****truth**** is rarely pure and never simple.****" -****Oscar Wilde**

"**All ****truth**** is good, but not all ****truth**** is good to say.****" -African Proverb**

All eyes focused on the package held in a pair of very pale hands with black painted nails. It didn't immediately blow up, nor was it making noise, and it looked quite harmless at the moment. Small, light weight, perfectly sealed, but no postage marks or any wear and tear of being overly handled. This assessment was done in seconds allowing the focus to shift to the messenger herself. Strange was what Agent Cole had said and strange she was. Of average height, a slim figure, pale unblemished skin, dark black hair with electric blue tips down to her shoulders, dark green eyes that slanted slightly. Dressed in a messengers service shirt and cap with black slacks and black tennis shoes she looked young but was probably older t hen she appeared. She stood tall, wasn't nervous or angry or any other obvious emotion that they could tell from a quick glance. The messenger shirt was black and bright purple as was the cap she wore. She stood tall, wasn't nervous or angry or any other obvious emotion that they could tell from a quick glance. While they were looking at her she was looking at them. A frown appeared on her face when she didn't see the one she was looking for.

"You have a package for Gideon." It was a statement not a question directed at her from a well built dark haired man in about his late thirties at the head of the table. Right down to business. She tried not to let the disappointment show or tip her hand that she knew he wasn't there.

"Yes. One package, hand delivery, I'll need a signature of course. Which one of you is Jason Gideon?" She looked around at the men hoping they would tell her he was in the restroom, or was late, or was out to lunch. Why else would she have been told to come here if the man she sought wasn't there? Would they try to sign for it and give it to him later? No she couldn't let that happen, nor could she be dismissed. She had to see him. Had to talk to him.

"He's not here at the moment but we can take it and make sure he gets it," The man who first addressed her held out a hand for the box. The others in the room stayed silent and watched her. She began to feel nervous, this was not going her way.

"No. It really is important and I must hand deliver it to him. Do you expect him back soon? I could come back later when I'm done with me other stops." She had to be calm no mistakes could be made. But she felt she was losing ground. "I could even wait if he won't be gone long," she went on.

The team was profiling her quickly as the exchange went on. They could make out her nervousness, and a hint of her desperation. She was more than just a messenger. She also had a message there was no doubt of that. Just what that was however was a mystery. Why would someone come looking for Gideon after all this time? Did they know each other? Was there a danger they couldn't see? They knew they couldn't let her leave without giving them the package and getting answers from her. But the job would be to get her to open up. She was already looking ready to clam up and run.

"Why don't you sit then miss…" Hotch asked stalling the woman who would try to leave. There was no name tag on her shirt or any other visible place. She would most likely give them a fake name but even a fake name could help them as it usually related to someone they knew or if they were working on a case, to a victim or unsub. If not that them it could hold clues to the person themselves, how they thought or saw the world. They just had to figure it out.

"Ward. Will he back shortly then? I could wait in the hall. I don't want to be a bother." She knew he wasn't coming now. She had to leave, but she couldn't just run out. She'd had to go back to looking for a home address. Or she'd have to case the building and stakeout, waiting for him. She was frustrated as well as nervous now.

"I really think you should take a seat miss Ward. Unless security should find you have lost your visitors badge or the mailroom investigating an un-postmarked empty package." Hotch knew he was taking a bit of a risk with the assumption of the package. After all her behavior had noted she was more interested in Gideon, in actually seeing him. There was no doubt she knew who she was looking for. Most likely from a picture though.

Damn she was caught! She clutched the package tighter however because it wasn't empty, it was in fact holding something very important. She didn't sit but it was hard not to fidget under their eyes. "I think I'll stand, I don't need a badge to deliver a package as curriers are seldom in the same building often enough to fill out all the paperwork repeatedly and this package isn't empty. I've been carrying it for the morning and there is something in there but it's for Mr. Gideon." She always though well on her toes but this was nuts! She had to try though, if for one last time.

"I see," Hotch was impressed so far but he could tell she was cracking under the pressure. The whole team could. It was time to end this little dance, and end it quickly. "I'm afraid you will be waiting a long time then. Gideon isn't here and he hasn't been here for quite some time, he's gone. I know you aren't a real currier, that package may have something in it but it's never been mailed. We can take it for processing them go through it after you are detained for impersonation and unlawful entry and I'm sure my colleague could find a perjury law that would stick as well." Hotch gestured towards Reid who nodded as he called the girl bluff. If it were possible her face became even paler and her grip on the package almost crushing. Her eyes clouded over for a moment, confusion, sadness, and anger but then as quickly as they came they were gone.

She remained standing but her legs felt slightly weak. What did he mean Gideon hadn't been there for a while? Was he on vacation? Was ill and not able to come in? She knew she should have done more with the package but her outfit was genuine, she'd just stolen it that was all. Well not really stole, more like borrowed. She had worked for the company, for a whole three days, just long enough to get the uniform then leave. She'd planed on giving it back when she was done with it. But they had her on unlawful entry if they found the way she had come in. And perjury, that was a hard one to beat if like he'd suggested they could actually get it to stick. He eyes had gone back to the young man she'd seen yesterday, what was his name? Reid, he was called Reid. Apparently he knew that law or was smart enough that the man thought he could figure out a way to bend the law against her. She had to try not to stare at him. Up close he could easily capture her attention. Why was he so familiar? She could have sworn she'd seen him before, but a long time ago. She could almost put even smaller boyish features to him. No, she had to focus. Gideon. The package. Her mission. Her life.

"What do you mean he's gone? And I didn't lie, I have a hand delivery package, this is a real uniform, I have the proper paperwork for it. Your right it is un-postmarked but it's local so it comes directly from the source."

"That may be a real uniform but I'm positive you don't work for them, and there are three perjury laws that could pertain to you right now" Reid answered this time.

"Gideon quit two years ago miss Ward, I'm surprised you don't know that if getting him that package is as important as you think it is" Hotch followed Reid.

"No. Your online directorate says he's here. I checked it two days ago, it says he's here." She was beginning to panic now, at least on the inside. He wasn't here. He was gone, but how? The computer, it said he was here. There had to be a mistake, she'd spent so much time and effort to come here to him.

"The computer directorate? You're the hacker who's been frustrating Garcia?" An angry voice made her turn to a good looking black man. Whoever this Garcia was must have been putting up the fire walls she'd run into when she was snooping about their system.

"Miss Ward, if that is your name, I suggest you sit and tell us why you are here to see Gideon and what's in the box. Otherwise I'll be forced to have you detained, and we have to go through the box anyway. Better for you just to tell us. Maybe we can help you or work out a deal. We all worked with Gideon, if it matters I'm sure we might be able to find him for you." Hotch was getting annoyed at the situation. Plus he was taking a big risk making assumptions he might not be able to pull off. Gideon had been gone a long time, having left and gone off the grid. They had all tried to find him at one time or another over the years but they had been unsuccessful thus far.

That was it, game over for her. She had had a plan B but only if she could get out of plan A. And all her hopes had been pinned on the workings of plan A. So she sat at the chair closest to her, farthest from the group. She still had tightly to the package.

"Miss Ward if you…" The leader stated again but she interrupted.

"Tesla, my name is Tesla. I need Gideon. It's important he get this package. Lives depend on it." She couldn't look him in the eye so she just looked at the package she'd set on the table, not taking her hands from it.

"Alright. Morgan get Garcia in herewith one of her computers and evacuate the others," The leader turned to the black man who had addressed her before.

"No, not your lives, other lives, of people who aren't here. The package isn't dangerous just very, very important." Tesla finally looked at the leader. "No need for a panic."

Hotch nodded. "Just get Garcia then, tell the other to go back to work," and with the orders given Morgan left the room. "My name is agent Hotchner, these are agents Rossi, Prentiss, Jareau and Dr. Reid." He introduced them and moments later Morgan came back and behind him was a woman with two laptops. "That's agent Morgan and our analyst Garcia" He finished introducing them.

"So you're my little mouse" the woman with the laptops eyed her as she swiftly set them up and sat next to Morgan. "You have been causing me quite the annoyance with your scampering about." She was reefing to the several breeches to the downstairs base operating system.

"I won't have had to go back if you had updated your system" Tesla looked annoyed when she answered but covered it up by looking back at Hotch. "So we make a deal or something, I need to find Gideon" she got down to business.

"We'll see about a deal but tell us why it is you need to see Gideon so badly. What is in the package for him that's so important that others lives depend on it." Hotch folded his hands in front of him and the whole team waited for a reply.

She had to answer him, if it was the only way to Gideon. "You know my name is Tesla Ward, I didn't lie about that. I need to see Gideon because I need his help, the lives that depend on it are those of my friends. I have a case for him, that's what's in the package." She proceeded to open the package and pull out a very fat folder full of paper, little multicolor sticky flags hung out the side. As she spoke Garcia began to type away on her laptops using one hand for each, her eyes flying from one screen to the other and back again as she typed.

"Tesla Ward, no outstanding warrants, no arrests, no tickets, no open cases, a name change, child record, sealed." Garcia announced the information as it came up on her laptops. Then her fingers stopped moving and she focused more on the laptop on her right side. She looked up at Tesla then back to the laptop. She did this three times each time her eyes getting a little bigger and her face a little paler. "Freaky," was all she said before beginning to type again.

"So what is this case about, who's is it and why do your friends lives depend on it? Are they being held as leverage by the unsub or suspect? And why do you need Gideon and not just detectives or other profilers like us?" Hotch silently thanked Garcia for her input with a nod.

"No they are not being held, the case pertains to them, this case is about ritual murder. As for why I need Gideon, I know he can solve this case. The case is mine and I need him to find my mother." Tesla said the last bit rather quickly hoping they would skip over some of the information.

"This is your case? As in you are connected, like a witness or a potential victim? And why would Gideon know where your mother is, does he know her?" Hotch was now very confused, at least to Gideon's connection. Sure he had been a good profiler, and he could more than likely help Tesla solve this case but why would he. It didn't sound appealing on a personal level.

"Like I said the case is mine. A was a victim or rather I am a victim. He should be able to find my mother, I would hope he kept in contact with my mother. After all he is my father."

_**(Oh another cliffhanger! Sorry if this is a little confusing and a bit of jumping around but my head really hurts, and I'm prepping for summer classes coming up in a few days so I'm a little distracted. More answers in the next chapter and smoother writing. Plus I'll be putting in more of the team from now on. Thanks for all the reviews too.)**_


	6. The case

"**We're looking for more ****mysteries****, including some fairly contemporary ****mysteries****. So there may be some not so cold ****cases**** that we're investigating.****" – John Lutz**

"**There is ****mystery**** to this ****case****, ..." ****– Tommy Thompson**

The silence was so loud it could be considered a raging quiet. No one spoke for a whole minute all eyes on Tesla before turning to Garcia and her computers. "Is there something in those records you forgot?" Hotch didn't look very happy about this little revelation. The team tried not to show their emotions but it was hard. Shock, confusion, disbelief were all running through their minds.

"I'm…having a little trouble with the child records" she was typing away again sounding a little put out. "I'll have it in a minute though, but there is something else. I can bring it up on the TV in just a second if you turn it on." She was getting more annoyed with the computer on the left.

"I imagine you would be a little sidetracked with my records. I may not be the best with computer systems like you are but I am capable of a few tricks." Tesla seemed a little smug having gained back an inch or two of ground over them. Hotch looked at her with disapproval and being closest to the flat screen LCD TV mounted on the wall in the front of the room turned it on and to the right channel for Garcia's wireless computer connection. A news article was present on the screen, there wasn't much to it, and most likely it was a page filler story.

**Ritual Killer Strikes Again or Simple Copy Cat? **The piece was about a series of ritual like murders discovered in the Great Basin National Park in late 1986. It seemed that a new body had been found in the same area, the victim killed in the same way as the past victims. In fact almost everything about the murder was the same except the age of the victim. At the bottom of the article was a small black and white photo of two children next to the bodies of two others. The bottom caption held four names, presumable the children's. One of the children was labeled as Tesla and the child looked like a smaller version of the young woman in front of them. The news article was dated two weeks ago and was a local paper for Ely Nevada.

"I assume that child in the photo is you," Rossi was confirming the obvious.

"It is yes" Tesla nodded without looking at the TV. She'd read the article already, in fact she had a copy in her files.

"Oh I have entry on child records. Name changed in 1997 to Tesla Maria Ward from Tesla Gideon. Original birth certificate present, father listed as Jason Gideon, mother listed as Sarah Miller. Born October 17th 1981 at Brown's Hospital New York. Given up for adoption October 18th 1981." Garcia read off the information with an almost sad sounding voice. She was somewhat misty eyed when she was done and wouldn't look up at Tesla. Instead she continued to type away at her laptop for any more information.

"Wait a minute your mother's Sarah Miller?" Morgan sat up straight in his chair. He'd met Sarah, She had visited Gideon here before. She was the reason Gideon had left the BAU. Well her death was the at least the start of it anyway, the final act being a short suspension for Hotch after a particularly hard case. He got a very bad feeling about this now. If Tesla had come here without knowing Gideon had left, looking for answers then there was no way she could know about her mother's death.

Prentiss now felt sorry for Tesla despite her earlier deception. She had never met Sarah, but she had been there with the team to help Gideon after her death. Apparently they had been old school friends and had occasionally gotten together. That was what was supposed to happen till an unsub they had lost came back for some revenge. It had shaken Gideon so badly he'd gone temporarily rouge, and he was never the same after that.

"I have tried to find her but I have been very unsuccessful, I was hoping Gideon might know. But that can wait, the most important thing is this case," Tesla laid her hand on the file she'd brought.

"You believe Gideon would have taken this case?" JJ was concerned that Tesla might have tried to sway Gideon to her favor. She hadn't seen the case file, and she was caught up in her work. This meant that the local law enforcement didn't think it was important enough to need their help. They might think it was a copy cat like the paper had suggested.

"I do, even if I didn't mention I was his daughter. This case isn't over yet and lives are at stake as I said. The ritual of the murder would also interest him I suppose." Tesla opened the file to one of the pages where a blue colored flag was hanging out. She took a few pictures from the file and spread them out. The team all leaned in to look following the line of photos. A dilapidated shack, inside what looked like stall crates, a table with bloody rags and knives, a few papers with weird designs. A forested area with several graves arranged in a circular pattern. "He took us in twos, kept us a few days, carved into us, beat us and cut us up to bleed before burying us alive." Tesla had a far away look in her eyes, her voice flat and unemotional, detached.

"And you survived this process or were you found before the unsub was finished?" Rossi may not have any children of his own but he had been a close friend of Gideon's and child cases always had a soft spot in his heart even if he would never show or admit it to the team. This one had already begun to get under his skin.

"I survived more or less but the latter would be more of a correct answer" Tesla looked at him before refiling the photos into her file.

"What do you mean more or less?" Prentiss couldn't understand how she could survive and not survive at the same time.

"I think I have the answer to that, and isn't really kinda freaky," Garcia cut off any answer Tesla would have given. She tapped a few keys on her laptop and pointed to the TV. The picture had changed, instead of a news article there was now an official medical document. To be more precise it was a death certificate. The name on it was Tesla Maria Gideon, date of death October 25th 1986. Cause of death blunt force trauma and a fall out a window. Hand written on the very bottom of the certificate was the phrase Lazarus condition, October 26th 1986, conformation needed and an illegible signature most likely from the attending doctor.

"So Tesla died and yet you say you are Tesla, and what's a Lazarus condition?" Prentiss looked annoyed. Her question hadn't really been answered with any clarity; this just made things more confusing.

"It is possible for her to be Tesla. The Lazarus condition is a medical condition in which the body dies or seems to die. Then anywhere from within minutes to two days the body restarts itself and the dead person comes back to life. In most cases the person has stopped or slowed breathing so much they are left in permanent vegetative states. However there are cases of the persons full recovery, many vampire stories and traditions came from this condition before it was more widely studied. It now refers to Lazarus or even Jesus from the bible as they came back from the dead" Reid explained looking very excited. H looked at Tesla with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. She hadn't seemed to be anyone he would know on first glance but now that he knew her past, or some of it and seen a photo of her as a child he wasn't so sure anymore. Something nagged at him in the back of his mind, something disturbing and yet familiar. Like he should know something, something important, it was on the tip of his brain but he couldn't access it.

"In a nut shell yes. I did die, and I did come back but since I was a ward of the state at the time, they needed proof that I was indeed Tesla Gideon. They didn't have DNA typing back then but they had blood typing. Unfortunately my information was lost or destroyed after my apparent death so there was nothing to compare me to. Therefore I couldn't be reinstated as being alive under the name Tesla Gideon by Nevada state law. So until 1997 I was called Tesla Maria. That is where Gideon's personal help comes in. If I can get him and or my mother to submit DNA samples I can prove who I am in accordance with state law and be officially alive, because as of this moment I am officially considered dead by the state of Nevada. Tesla looked each team member in the eye as she spoke, body sitting straight, head up. She was to be believed, not thought of as crazy or mistaken.

"That's very interesting but back to the case. You mentioned people's lives in danger and the article said there were more killings. After so long why would the unsub start killing again, do you think it really is the same man or a copy cat and why is it that your friends are the target?" Hotch steered the focus of this whole odd encounter back to its origin.

"Even though I was young when it happened I never forgot some of the others that were there. He kept us in pairs but there were five pairs of us in all not including the ones already buried. We had been able to talk to each other sometimes. When I got older I started to hunt down the others I could remember. It was really hard but I found two of them and they remembered others and so on as I tracked them down. Lately it's become much easier with computers and the internet and such, but I haven't been able to find them all. But I'm not the only one looking, the new murders, the killer is targeting my friends, the original victims. The body they found was that of a boy who was in the containment stall next to mine. As for the killer it's a copy cat, but one who knows the case intimately, there are way too many details that are exactly the same that can't be found anywhere but in the original report or with the original people from the case. I know this because the man who started this is dead. I killed him, and as a result that is how I died as well, we were fighting, it was self defense. But I hate to think that the killing started again because I've begun to get together the other original victims. I can't help thinking this is what caught this killers attention and it's been eating at me. Another of my friends has gone missing and I believe the killer took her. I know you said Gideon was gone but could you get him here, I need to ask him if he'll help me." Tesla pulled another photo from her file. This time it was of a group of young people standing together under a large oak tree smiling. "This is Amy" she pointed to a smallish red head. "She went missing four days ago, and I made my way up here the day we could officially call her missing."

The entire team looked strained at this information. "I'm not sure we can find Gideon in time, but I believe we can help you." Hotch made the decision he knew the team would want. They had to help, even if in the end Tesla wasn't Gideon's daughter. The case was compelling, the urgency apparent. And the victims were important. No one should have to go through what they did let alone twice. "We'll take your case."

_**(Sorry for such the long wait but I had a string of bad luck lately. Summer classes started, I fell ill, and my internet and computer crashed. But It's okay now, classes are in a set schedule, I'm on the mend, and I finally got my computer fixed and the tech guy to redo my net connection. More chapters coming soon and the pace will pick up a bit. Thanks for waiting.)**_


	7. opening observations

"**Where ****observation**** is concerned, chance favors only the prepared mind.****" - ** **Louis Pasteur**

"Tesla blinked a few times as if her brain had stalled then restarted. "You will? Oh yes thank you. I um, here, you'll need this," her slid the file over to Hotch. "It's everything I know and have been able to collect." She felt a tug of nervousness at the loss of the file, but it was going into good hands. "You said something about Gideon being here on time. Why can't you just call him, or send an email or something. I know I might come as shock to him, now that I found..er thought I found him, but why wouldn't he come right away? Is he on another case or something?" Tesla began biting her bottom lip in concentration.

The team looked around at each other trying to think of what to say to Tesla. Hotch cleared his throat and answered her. "He's…taking some personal time. We may not get a message to him right away and he may not be able to answer it immediately either." He accepted the file she had given him. "JJ, contact the Nevada branch and state troopers and see who is handling this case or if anyone is. Garcia, I need you to make copies of this for everyone," he handed her the file he'd just gotten.

"On it boss," she took the file and closed her laptops. Picking them up in a stack she got up to leave, JJ followed her without a goodbye to the team. She had a job to do and wouldn't waste any time.

"So where are you staying kid? I assume you got a place somewhere around here." Morgan knew if they were to travel to Nevada, and mostly they would, that they would need her close. They was no doubt they would take her with them.

"I have a room at a small hotel just outside D.C." Tesla looked at him. Now that they knew who she was and what she wanted she could be open around them. She now had the chance to really see them as well. Morgan looked nice enough, but she'd have to watch herself. She had a bit of a temper and could be very stubborn. He was not a man she wanted to upset by the way he seemed to take care of himself. He looked very in shape and would no doubt not hesitate to put her in line.

As they waited she couldn't help looking back at the young man they called DR. Reid. Granted he looked young, younger then he most likely was but still. They seemed at ease with the title, so it wasn't new. He'd been a doctor for a while, but a doctor in what? Not medical, there was no need for a medical doctor on a team of behaviorists. He dresses like a teacher or student might, so maybe in some kind of psychology. Wouldn't be history, or if it was it wouldn't be a general kind. But why, why did he look so familiar.

"Is there something you want to ask?" Reid knew Tesla was watching him, trying not to stare probably. He was kind of used to it and thought he knew what she was going to ask. Lots of people asked.

"Doctor Reid, what kind of doctor?" She didn't look like she didn't believe, she looked curious.

"I have three; Mathematics, Chemistry, and Engineering." He waited for the disbelief, or the strange look, even amusement. He got nothing. Well actually he got a smile.

"That's cool," Tesla's smile was huge.

"Tesla, you understand that now that we've taken your case you'll have to stay with us. I'm going to send you back to your hotel with Prentiss to get your things. Don't get too upset but we have profiled you a bit from just sitting here. You aren't really a suspect but we still need to watch out for you. You could be in danger as well if the case is anything like before. I expect since you came to Gideon and round about to us for help that you will follow our rules." Hotch got her attention again. He watched her for any upsetting changes while he spoke. She looked a little annoyed but just nodded her head towards the end.

"I think I can live with that for now," she answered. She looked over at Prentiss, taking the woman in. She looked a little stern, but she carried herself well, like she was comfortable here with the big boys as they were. She was probably very smart and efficient.

"Good. Prentiss why don't you take her back now. I'll see you when you get back, I'm sure we'll have more by then." With that Hotch seemed to dismiss them.

"Let's get going then we have a bit of a drive it sounds like," Prentiss got up from her chair as Tesla did. Tesla got to the door first but held it open for Prentiss to walk through first. On her way out she looked back at the four team members left.

"Thanks again," and she was out the door.

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Once Prentiss and Tesla were gone a collective sigh seem to escape the conference room.

"That was strange," Rossi started. "I think this case is going to be a bit hectic was well as slightly uncomfortable. When we're done are you going to tell her about Gideon?" He turned to look at Hotch.

"Or Sarah? Cause if we tell her about him or don't tell her about him, she'll probably ask us anyway." Morgan put in his thoughts.

Reid stayed silent on the subject, yet it looked like he was deep in concentration. They could practically see the wheels turning in his brain, a thousand thoughts buzzing around in there if they looked at him. He too waited for Hotch's answer.

"I'm not sure we should tell her anything any time soon about either of them. We don't even know if she is Gideon's daughter. He never mentioned anything like this, or that Sarah was even pregnant. And with his situation with Stephen who knows what he thinks or how he feels about her, given the chance that he knows. As for Sarah, beyond her death and what happened around it we can't tell her much. I think we should follow her lead for now and focus on the case. We can decide what to tell her about them later if we do at all." Hotch had a serious look on his face.

"She's going to want answers Hotch. Just look at what she did to get here to see him. And that's what we know about, if she's been looking for a while who knows what she's willing to do to get answers." Morgan sounded slightly angry. He sometimes let his emotions get the better of him.

"I think Hotch is right Morgan, we should wait. We could have Garcia look into the situation more, maybe have something we can tell her when it's over. But until then I agree we shouldn't talk about it." Rossi gave his view on the subject. He'd had the most experience with ex-wives and family secrets. Even if the families weren't his own.

"Fine, but I hope your right about this" Morgan folded his arms over his chest.

"Why don't you go see if Garcia's done with those copies and ask if she can do additional digging on Tesla. Also anything about the old case would help. Reid, start looking into the victims we have so far. Victimology is going to be very important as this is a repeat of an older case. These people were chosen for a reason originally is sounds like and we need to know what that is. Rossi look into the new cases, compare with Reid. I need to start the paper work and check on JJ's progress. We need to press for an invitation if we don't want to step on anyone else's toes." Hotch gave out the assignments and they went to work.

_**(Notes: in the last chapter I gave out some dates and names. If I allow for the seasons of Criminal Minds to be up to date with my story, Spencer's birthday mentioned in season 4 makes him 5 years old at the time of the original crime in my story. Also I believe Sarah's last name isn't mentioned in the show so I made up her last name here. The other victims are my original characters. Oh and Stephen in this chapter is Gideon's son from a failed marriage on the show.)**_

_**(Also thanks for sticking with me, thanks for all the reviews, it's nice to see. More coming soon.)**_


	8. digging deeper

"_**Everything in life is connected somehow. You may have to **__**dig**____**deep**__** to find it but its there. Everything is the same even though its different. Somehow everything connects back with your life. The faces in certain places may be different, but the situation is the same. Irony is a hidden factor that creeps around us in life, letting its presence felt only after it has left. Picture back to a year ago and the situation you were in. Look at how things are different yet somehow everything it still in some way cognate. Everything connects together to form the balance of life, to maintain structure. Change is and always will be inevitable, but everything is relative, and all the moments and times in your life will come back around again, you just might find yourself on the other side of the coin. Things are always changing, as fast as everything stays the same.**__**" - Unknown**_

Prentiss had taken out a car from the F.B.I.'s garage rather then use her own for this trip. Technically staying with and in a way protecting a witness and potential victim meant she could use the government SUV as well as government funds for gas. Tesla was settled deep in the passenger seat not looking at anything in particular as they drove along. The highway was busy but rush hour was over. Keeping her eyes on the road mostly she was able to sneak glances at Tesla. If she was Gideon's daughter she couldn't tell. She had worked with Gideon for a while and Tesla didn't look like him. Granted they had similar face structure but there wasn't much else in the way of similarity. Okay so Gideon had black hair too when he was younger and it got lighter when he got older. She'd never meet Sarah but she had seen her…in a way after her death. There could have been a resemblance there but she couldn't be sure. "So you have been in the area for a while? What have you been doing?" Prentiss looked at Tesla for several moments as Tesla shifted in her seat to look at her.

"I came into D.C. two days ago. The first day was really half a day, so I got in some sights, and checked up on the Federal building, got my things ready to visit you." Tesla now watched Prentiss.

"What about the second day? Yesterday?" Prentiss didn't need to look at her this time.

"I came and looked around the office. I saw you and your coworkers getting coffee." Tesla grinned as she remembered the easy way they had interacted.

The SUV swerved a fraction of an inch and Prentiss's hands tightened on the wheel. "You were in our section?" It was a disconcerting thought that Tesla had been so close to them unnoticed.

"Oh yes. I had thought Gideon was there so I went to look around, get the lay of the land for today. I didn't see him but I thought nothing of it then." Tesla shrugged then gave a little yawn.

Nothing else was said until they got to D.C. and Tesla gave Prentiss directions to the hotel. They parked as close to her room as possible and Prentiss accompanied her into the little room.

"It will just take a minute. The only things I really unpacked were my outfits for yesterday and my toiletries. Make yourself comfortable though," and Tesla went about packing what was left about as Prentiss sat on the edge of the bed. When she picked up the uniform from the day before and the wig Prentiss sat up ram rod straight and narrowed her eyes. Relax I'm going to get rid of it don't worry," Tesla kept going about her business. In no time she had everything repacked and they were again on the road but in the opposite direction.

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Morgan walked into Garcia's layer and sat down in the chair next to hers. Originally there had only been but the one chair in her layer, but after so many people coming in to visit or wait for results well… She had gotten tired of them standing looking over her shoulder or worse perching on the edge of her desks. Now there were three chairs; hers, one a bit away from her so she could maneuver around to all her computers and a folding chair in the back corner just in case.

"You got those copies baby girl?" he sounded a little warn.

"They should be finished printing out soon downstairs. I have other things to do here you know. Do you really think that girl is Gideon's daughter? I just can't see him giving her away, no matter what was going on at the time. I mean the man had photos and letters from some of the victims he'd saved. Kinda odd he wouldn't have anything about her lying around.

"Yeah I know, we were just talking about that. Hotch wants to wait to tell her anything about Gideon but we'll have to tell her something eventually. We were thinking about having you trying to locate him again. I know we've asked you to look around in the past but this is different. The case has got to come first, it's the most important thing. But anytime not devoted to the case goes into finding Gideon now. One way or another that girl's going to go looking for answers and with the ways she's doing it she's headed for a heap of trouble. This way will just help her stay safe and we get answers too when she gets hers." Morgan ran a hand over his face. This was just getting so messed up. After Gideon had left everyone on the team had tried to cope. They had also all tried to get answers by looking for him. They hadn't told each other but after a while it was obvious to one another what they were doing. After finding nothing and Rossi came on board they had put the search aside. Let the man have his time, perhaps he would surface on his own after a while. But he never had and now they were back to looking for him.

"Sure thing baby cakes. Should I look into Sarah too? She is a small part of this case in a way, being that girl's mom. Might help in victimology too, but then again I'm no profiler." Garcia had turned away from her monitors and sat facing Morgan.

"Baby girl you are so smart, that's a good idea. I know that's so much to work on but there might be more later too as more victims show up." Morgan didn't look very happy about the last part. Having more victims was never a good thing even if it brought them closer to the killer.

"Well then I expect something nice when this is done. Now since you have just handed out your orders I have lots to do so out. Go help Reid or Hotch or something" she began shooing him away with her hands as she focused back on her monitors.

Morgan laughed but got up and left Garcia to her work.

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JJ got to her office and sat down at her desk setting the two files they had been reviewing aside. She'd pass them along to another team to take a look at. The case Hotch had taken for them instead was more important. She opened a desk drawer and pulled out a rolodex like file. Flipping through it she found the numbers for the closest F.B.I. offices for the area of the crime. She would call them first then the state troopers, as it made sense that the local field office would be handling the case, it they were handling it at all. It was entirely possible that it was still a local issue with the local cops. With only two bodies and the papers speculation there was no way to tell if it had been handed to the F.B.I. from the locals. She decided she would call them too, just to cover her bases. Picking up the phone she called the F.B.I. office closest to the area of the crimes in Las Vegas. Their offices weren't too far from the crime scenes but still a bit of a drive. The phone rang three times before it was picked up by a man who identified himself as agent Peckette.

"Hello agent Peckette, this is agent Jareau with the Behavior Analysis Unit. I was hoping you could help me with something. Are you working on a case of ritual like killings in the Great Basin area; they look like they could possibly be the work of a copy cat."

"Just a moment let me look" agent Peckette replied. JJ could hear the sound of typing in the background. "Looks like there's an entry here for a review of a case that sounds like what you described. Let me look," more typing. "Okay, body found matching that of murders back in the 80's, ritualistic appearing in nature, located in the area of the Great Basin National Park. No one has taken the case, but it is on the docket for review and possible assistance."

"So the local law agency handling the case has asked for federal assistance then?" JJ wanted a solid confirmation.

"Yes they have" Peckette gave her all she needed to know.

"All right, if you could take it off your docket we at the BAU would like to handle this case. We have contacts already within this case as well as a vested interest. Could you sent over a copy of the request and any file you have on it to us as soon as possible? I have the fax number here if it's not in your directory." JJ said in a serious almost commanding voice, but she'd softened the edges of her words to sound appreciative.

"Alright if you want it, I don't see the harm. I'll call the local field office but you might want to do that as well. The number should be on all the paper work. I'll get that off to you within the next hour. Anything else you need?" Peckette sounded a little relieved to see this case gone.

"No thank you that's all, I'll look forward to those files. Good-bye." JJ hung up the phone and went over to the fax machine to make sure it had paper and ink ready for when the files came.

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Reid left the conference room the same time Morgan did and headed to his desk to start looking up the victims from the past case. He'd have to start looking in the data base of old records until Garcia could get him a copy of the files Tesla had brought. That left Hotch and Rossi alone in the room.

"I'm going to check on JJ's progress, I'll see you in a few minutes." Hotch got up from his seat and walked out of the room leaving Rossi to his own devices. Rossi signed as he got up and headed to his office. He liked working with the team but at the same time he was still a bit of a loner. Old habits from old way died hard. Still he didn't want to seem useless, he would think of something to do to contribute, he always did. Sitting down at his desk he began to think. He looked up at a picture on his desk, it was an old one of him and Gideon and Max Ryan from the days of the original BAU. He sat up straight and reached for the phone as his plan to help came to mind. He punched a number he had memorized and waited for it to be picked up which wasn't long.

"Hello Max Ryan" came the voice on the other end.

_**(Okay another chapter done and almost everyone is in it. Next chapter will have more from characters left out of this one, I like to give them equal turns. Please feel free to review to tell me how you like it so far.)**_


	9. an important phone call

_**"The motto should not be: Forgive one another; rather, Understand one another." – Emma Goldman**_

_**"Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown." – Ross Perot**_

"Max, it's Rossi" still in work mode he identified himself. But even in the old days they would do this. It was a habit that was hard to shake even years after leaving. Some people never got over it and it could prove awkward at times.

"Dave this is unexpected. Is everything alright or are you thinking about re-retiring and inviting me to the party?" Ryan had a sense of humor which he showed only his closest friends, and only when he was in a good mood.

Rossi hoped his good mood would last until the phone call was over. If he was in a bad mood he could be closed off and distant. The worst of times he might even hang up on Rossi, it had happened before. They didn't talk about those times, to many bad memories for all involved. "No I'm not retiring again, and if I did who says you can come? No I just wanted your opinion on something I'm working on."

"Why does this sound like trouble to me? This better not be something serious you're keeping from me." Ryan wasn't angry but he no longer sounded cheery, he had gone into a serious mood.

"No, no trouble. Just working on a case, you know how it goes when you need something you just can't quite grasp. Well I got to thinking and you might be able to help a bit, so why not." Rossi smooth talked his way around Ryan's mood. After working with the man so long, he knew just how to push the man's buttons. He just had to be careful Ryan didn't catch on, which he did from time to time. It was hard to fool a profiler even if you one yourself.

"This about a case of mine? Or you got something old because I've been out of the game long enough for something big or important to come across my path." Ryan was still serious but in a good "working" manor.

"No nothing of yours, and I wouldn't exactly call this case old. It's a copy cat case, not one you worked on either." Rossi added the last part quickly to reassure Ryan.

"All right then, let's have it. What can I help you with on a case you should have most of the answers to." Ryan assumed a lecturing tone. He'd used it when consulting about profiles or reading at book signings.

"Alright, we got someone who is copying the killings of a crime that happened in 86. There were some survivors and our copy cat is going after them. The new crime is exactly like the old ones, right down to the victims. Because of the age of this case that means our unsub was either attached to this case originally or did a hell of a lot of research on it. What do you think the odds are it's an officer or authority figure attached to the case?" Rossi wanted to lead him up to the difficult questions, the questions he would ask about their old friend.

"If the level is down to the last detail or so close your unsub might be in contact with the original unsub, or have been in some way. If not for that you might have a lead with the officer theory. The last possibility would be one of the victims themselves, never forget there is a chance of that." Ryan voiced something Rossi hadn't wanted to think about. It was always a possibility with old cases involving young survivors.

"Yes but I hope it's not that. We have contact with one of them and I don't think it would go over well, but we are keeping it in mind. The original unsub killed in a ritual like way, but was never proved to have a mental condition or issues, do you think the copy cat could have a condition or is just using something they know well?" Rossi went on.

"Without the case or notes in front of me I can't speculate on that. You know I get the feeling there is something you want to ask me. Something you know I'm not going to like. Spit it out already. I know you like to dance around the obvious sometimes but if you took the time to call me, you can ask me." Ryan sounded annoyed.

Rossi was right there was no fooling a profiler for long. "Alright, just don't hang up on me. The case might have a small tie to…to Gideon. I assume you know he left without forward address. I know he wouldn't contact you, he didn't contact me. But if you have any idea where he could be, anything at all it's important I know. We have to find him," Rossi said uncharacteristically fast. There was a few moments of silence on the other end of the line.

"A small tie to Gideon but you have to find him because it's important. All of it Rossi, right now or I won't talk to you for a month" Ryan sounded angry now.

"He wasn't on the original case, but one of the survivors, the one we have contact with well. She was searching him out to take the case. She claims he'd take it because of a vested interest." Rossi really didn't want to tell Ryan what that interest was. He might not believe it and if he did things would not be looking up in his opinion of Gideon.

"What interest Rossi?" Ryan's tone was clipped.

"She claims that he would help her solve the case and find her mother. She, um," Rossi faltered for a moment. "She claims to be his daughter."

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It was such a nice day, perfect for what he was doing. He was sitting unbelievably still on a folding swivel chair. A note pad and pen in his lap, a book open spread above that and binoculars around his neck. He was engaged in his favorite hobby; bird watching. However today despite the weather and location not much watching was getting done. It was quite. Too quite. This meant there weren't many birds in the area. He had waited for some time hoping that the activity in the area would pick up. But nothing changed the air and trees where still empty. He sighed as he closed his book, and picking up a backpack put it and his notes away. He stood up and refolded the chair before shouldering the bag and starting the hike back to his truck. As he walked he thought about the quite which was starting to get to him. Lately he had felt discontented, and reminiscent. He'd actually begun to seek out places with lots of noise, masses of people. And he's begun to watch again, something he hadn't done…no hadn't allowed himself to do in a few years now. He wouldn't do it again thought but now, it was like a grain of sand that you could feel on you but couldn't get off. Slowly rubbing, getting on your nerves, but you couldn't find it so you tried to ignore it. Denial had set in but wasn't obvious to him yet. He knew he was missing something but didn't quite know what, didn't want to know the name of it. It was a life time ago to him now. A life he could never have back and wasn't sure he ever wanted no matter the feelings. So he focused on the sights around him, the forest, a small stream could be heard and would be seen at any moment. True enough, he went around a large stand of trees and there it was. He followed it for about half an hour before coming to a trail. The trail wound down a hill through light brush and pine trees. At the bottom was a dirt parking area for the trail head. Once he got there he automatically scanned the open area. That was one habit he would never let go of. His truck was there where he'd parked it, but there were two other vehicles now parked close by. A red jeep Cherokee and a dark green outback. The jeep was nothing special and the outback had an extended bike rack on the end. The jeep might belong to a young man or couple for all its stark look implied, the outback screamed family car with some stickers on the rear window and some fuzzy thing hanging on the back of the passenger seat. They both had Idaho plates like his truck. Their owners were nowhere in sight or hearing distance. He walked over to his truck and opened the driver's door. Placing the chair on the floor behind the driver's seat and his bag in the passenger seat he got in started the truck. He sat a moment letting his mind wander before shaking his head and starting the drive back to the little town he was staying in. He hadn't been there long, just a month but he planned to stay at least two more months. He'd used a fake name and cash up front for a room at a local bed and breakfast on the edge of town. No one bothered him and he didn't look too deeply at the people around him. He just went about in a manner of semi invisibleness, blending into the background.

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Reid hated cases in which the victims were children. He always had and he always would, having a case with child victims that grew up only to become victims again however, that was a new low. Looking into older case files was hard as they had to be scanned into a system from where they had been kept in storage. And that was only if they were seemingly important and the department wasn't behind on it. Reid had barely begun his work, just getting into the local data base for Las Vegas F.B.I. when there was a pinging noise and a noticed popped up he had mail. Opening his mail box there was a letter and attachment from Garcia. He opened the letter and read it in seconds.

_Don't feel so sad, come and talk to me any time. A list of names for you to look into. Remember my door is always open. Garcia._

He smiled as he opened the attachment with the list. She could always make him feel better and he was thankful. The list was broken down into three parts. At the top were the original victims who hadn't survived. Next were the victims who had survived. Last were the names of two names. The man who was found not long ago and the woman who had gone missing. His smile faded as he absorbed the lists. There were twenty three names and one line said child unknown. This was something odd, having a victim with no name, and that the victim was listed under having survived and not survived. He would have thought if anything it would have been Tesla, but her name was already on the lists. He went to the top of the list of children who had survived he'd start there. If these people had been targeted for a reason then, and now, it would be easier to gather information from them. After all the dead couldn't talk so they would be looked at later as they would require more work. With the original dead victims they would gather all information from family and old records if available. He could run a simple background check on those still living and they could be interviewed. Opening the data base page again he typed in the first name. Michael Ray Dogette. The search for any mention of him in any case files in the system began as he hit enter. Reid then opened the national data base for background searches and again typed in the name. Checking the box for a light, or basic look he hit the rush entry option and the search began. If the guy had so much as a parking ticket it would come up, along with any crimes or serious information. Anything less than law offensives and government documents like drivers and marriage licenses wouldn't show up but they could get that information later from an interview or more detailed search. Right now they just needed the basics on him. Sighing Reid went back to the Las Vegas F.B.I. data base and entered the second name on the list. He did this with all the names one by one. He was going to be here for some time. He needed more coffee…and maybe a trip to Garcia for a few words and some candy she always kept in her office. It made him feel better and she knew it but tried to let him think that she didn't know, which he did know and…yes time for coffee.

_**(Okay so not too much of the others. I got carried away with the phone call…the team comes together in the next chapter so not so confusing. Review welcome, thanks for reading. More soon.)**_


	10. human puzzel pieces

"_**There are no extra **__**pieces**__** in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every **__**piece**__** must fit itself into the big jigsaw **__**puzzle**__**." - **__**Deepak Chopra **_

"_**So now it is time to disassemble the parts of the jigsaw **__**puzzle**__** or to **__**piece**__** another one together, for I find that, having come to the end of my story, my life is just beginning.**__**" - **__**Conrad Veidt **_

"_**The world is a giant **__**puzzle**__** that hasnt been put together yet, and were trying to find the other **__**piece**__** of this **__**puzzle**__** that goes with us**__**" - unknown**_

After leaving the conference room Hotch went to his office. Shutting the door he took out some report forms from a file cabinet next to his desk and sat down. He started filling out the paperwork on the basics of the case, a request to use the jet, and got a receipt list started. Once he had these done he filled out a mission statement sheet to take to Strauss. Technically he would need her to sign off on this case but if it came to it he'd get Reid or Garcia to forge her signature and approve the case. He left out any mention of Gideon just in case, he hoped she wouldn't find out either at least till it was over. Putting the reports in a new file he pulled out his go bag and placed it on top. Then he went to deliver the mission statement to Strauss. He wouldn't talk to her just leave it for her to sign, they still didn't get along even though she'd let up slightly after Foyet. With that done he headed to JJ's office. When he got there JJ was by the fax machine and was separating papers that were coming through. He knocked on the door jamb to alert her of his presence. She turned her head and nodded at him.

"Did you get us invited into the case or are we starting it for them?" Hotch stepped inside the office.

"A little bit of both, the locals had something started but put in a request for the local branch to look into it. They hadn't had the chance yet so I told them we'd take it, so we are in but starting fresh. The agent I spoke with said he'd inform the local police, but I'm going to give them a call and smooth things over when all the files come in." JJ wasn't paying too much attention to Hotch as she explained. She knew he wouldn't take offense as she had her hands full with arranging the incoming paperwork.

"Good, this is a positive start, I have a feeling we're going to need a lot of their help in the future." Hotch stood by the door as the fax machine finally stopped.

"I just hope this case doesn't take too long. Those kids don't need to go through that again. When do we leave I'd like the chance to see Henry if possible before we go?" JJ finished separating the papers and slipping them into a folder before turning to Hotch.

"At least another two hours, we have to wait for Prentiss and Tesla to get back and make sure she's ready to go. Also I want to have as much information as possible with us on the jet. As long as you're here when it's time and you have all your calls made I don't see why you can't go see Henry." Hotch knew what it was like to want to see your child before leaving. All the cases he'd gone on and missed seeing his son before was hard. To be honest he'd missed a lot of things with his son. He'd tried to be there and now that Hailey was gone he tried harder but sometimes he still felt it wasn't enough. He'd contemplated getting a web cam for Jack and Jessica so he could see him at night instead of just calling from the road. He'd have to ask Garcia to help him hook it up but it would be worth it.

"Thanks Hotch, I'm just going to call the local Las Vegas police and I'll get going. I'll be back before but give me a call if you need me earlier." JJ sat down and started looking up the number she needed. Hotch left her office and went to Rossi's.

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Rossi was on the phone when Hotch got to the slightly closed door. From the sound of it the call was not going well.

"No I didn't say…I know you….Could you just…No don't…hang up" the last was said slowly and with an edge of annoyance. Rossi set the phone back in its cradle and leaned back in his chair. "You may as well come in Hotch." Rossi pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh before sitting forward in his chair again. Hotch pushed to door the rest of the way open and walked in, sitting in a chair across from Rossi.

"I take it whatever you were trying didn't work out the way you planned?" Hotch didn't grin but the expression of it was in his voice. He didn't show much emotion but he let his guard fall slightly more when he was around Rossi.

"No but it did give me some other ideas. Has anyone been out to Gideon's cabin since he left?"

"Reid went back about a month after we officially noted Gideon off the team, but I don't think so since then. What are you thinking?"

"He left Reid a letter and no one has really been back so we don't know if he may have come to check on the place. Maybe he has someone do it for him. Why don't we get Reid to leave him a letter there? It's a long shot but he might get it, if not there's no harm in it."

"That might work, I'll see if it fits in before we leave. Anything else?"

"Yes, you probably thought of it, we might all have but…this unsub. It could be one of the original officers or even a victim who's the copy cat."

"The thought did cross my mind and the officer part may have crossed Tesla's. But I think she might consider the fact it could be one of the over victims hard to accept right now. As professionals we have to be up front with her about it, but I doubt she'll take it well."

"I think we should wait to discuss this until we get to Nevada."

"Alright. The jet leaves in about two hours, do what you have to till then" Hotch got up to go back to his office. On his way he bumped into Morgan who had the copied files ready in a binder. Hotch took his and walked down to the bull pen to talk to Reid.

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Having left Garcia to her work Morgan went over to the giant copy center where various machines were spitting out all kinds of papers. After looking them over he found two currently duplicating the information for their case. He knew Garcia was very busy and so where the other team members but he didn't have an assignment having done what Hotch asked already. So to be useful and stay on Garcia's good side for the case he began collecting the completed work and putting it in order to the original file. There was a copy for everyone and with the amount of paper being produced it looked like they were going to be carrying around a small tree's worth each. Deciding note binders would be better suited he went to a supply cupboard close by and pulled out what he would need; note binders, sticky note flags, and pads for case notes, along with fresh pens. He was never one to be to organized but there was just so much information it was necessary. He spent the next half an hour putting it all together and waiting for the machines to stop. When he was done he carried the heavy load to his desk, placing a binder on Prentiss desk as he went by. Then he took one to Reid's desk where the genius was staring at the computer.

"What are you looking at?" he leaned over Reid's shoulder to look at the screen causing Reid to pull back a bit in surprise.

"Don't do that Morgan. I'm looking at basic backgrounds on the victims" Reid huffed out. He'd been so focused Morgan had caught him off guard.

"Relax I didn't mean to scare you…much" Morgan grinned at him. He like to tease Reid when he could, sometimes to try and lighten the mood or take his mind off or something. "Here's the file Tesla brought. Anything interesting here?" Morgan perched on the edge of Reid's desk as he handed over the binder.

"Not much, this is just a basic rush search. Most of the victims don't have any major notes so a lot of it is coming up empty. One or two have some traffic tickets and except for one with a juvenile record this is kind of slow."

"We can get Garcia to look into the juvie record later. Keep looking I'll be back" Morgan got up to go hand out the rest of the binders. He caught JJ on her way out to meet Will and Henry for a goodbye lunch. She accepted the binder but asked him to put it on her desk, she wanted to spend as much time with her men as possible. He understood that and nodded. When he got to her office he saw her go bag in her chair and set the binder on top. Leaving her office he ran into Hotch and gave him a binder as well before going into Rossi's office to drop off the last one.

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Reid was scrolling through several screens on his computer when Hotch came up to him. He always approached Reid head on if he could. Sometimes the genius started when anyone approached and he was concentrating on something else to hard to notice right away. "How is the search coming?"

"Slowly, nothing much to really report on right now," Reid looked up at Hotch.

"Good I have a favor to ask. If you feel up to it, write a note to Gideon. Just say that we have a case that needs his urgent attention and we'll be in Nevada. He can contact us by cell, or through the local F.B.I. if he doesn't want to see us in person. We have about two hours until the jet's ready to go. You think you can take the note to the cabin and be back? I'll have Morgan continue your search while you're gone. If you don't want to do it I'll find someone else, but I thought I thought you might like to do it."

Reid gave it a moment's thought his brows furrowing in concentration. Slowly he nodded, "I can do it. Not sure he'll get it but it's worth a try. Do you want me to leave out Tesla?"

"No I don't want him to know just yet. It might fail but if not I don't want it to change any decision he might make. I want him to talk to us on his terms not because he feels he has to. Or I don't want him to avoid it if he's ready to talk because of her situation."

"Alright, I'll be back before it's time unless there's any major traffic. But I'll call you on the way back, just to check in." Reid started looking around his desk for a pen and paper.

"Good, I'll see you then" with that Hotch left Reid to write his letter and he went back to his office to read over the binder of note more carefully.

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Morgan had given the last binder to Rossi who nodded thanks and went back to Reid who was busy writing something down. He would pause every now and again before resuming. "What you doing now pretty boy?"

"Hotch asked me to leave a note at Gideon's cabin just in case he checks there. I need you to keep an eye on the computer while I'm gone. I doubt much more is going to come up but just to be sure."

"Beats waiting with nothing to do. JJ took off to meet up with Will and Henry and Prentiss and Tesla should be back in an hour or so." Morgan went over to his desk to sit down. "Tell me when you're ready to go."

"I'll be done in a few minutes," Reid went back to writing the letter. True to his word he finished and was putting the letter in his messenger bag five minutes later. "See you on the jet," Reid called to Morgan who was moving to his desk as he walked to the elevator. Morgan just chuckled and sat back to watch the computer do its work.

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Prentiss hit a bit of traffic on the way back to Quantico but it wasn't a stand still. Tesla had been staring out the window but she turned to Prentiss when she got board of looking at other cars. "How is working with Gideon?"

Prentiss frowned, she was unsure how to answer and had to think. They had told her Gideon had been gone for a while, but where or why. Or even that he wasn't coming back, at least not it the foreseeable future. "It was kind of challenging and a bit nerve racking at first, but I got to know him and just do what came natural. I guess you could say we have a good working relationship." She used present words as to not tip Tesla off. Hotch could handle that bridge when they came to it. She didn't at this moment and probably wouldn't want to do it later either. Her personability skills weren't always the best, but she always tried hard. Tesla kept looking at her but didn't say anything for a few more minutes.

"Does he, does he have a family? I looked him up but I didn't dig to deeply after I found out what he did. Until all this stuff with the copy cat I didn't really think about it. Then I just thought I'd meet him and he could tell me but…"

Prentiss nodded in understanding. Again she had to think about how to answer but it didn't take as long as last time. "It's hard on us to have relationships with this job but he has a family more or less. We, the team, are his extended family and he was married. But I suggest you ask Hotch or Rossi about that, they would know more."

"Oh sorry to make you uncomfortable. I just have to know things some times, I'm curious about everything. It's either really good or annoying my friends say. Curiosity killed the cat and all but hey I'm not a cat so… you get the picture." Tesla smiled as she explained.

Prentiss could understand, at least to some degree. "So these friends of yours, they the ones you managed to find?" She changed the subject to one she could get answers from.

"Yes, I mentioned I found a few of the other kids, not all of them, just about half with Amy missing and Marcus dead not included. We get together twice, sometimes three times a year if possible. We talk about our lives now and try to find the others. We don't talk too much about the past, especially what happened in those woods." Tesla looked down at her hands then back out the window. It was a sign to Prentiss she was done with questions for now. They drove slowly along for miles before finally picking up some speed after a few of the major exits for the bigger cities.

They were almost back to the F.B.I. building when Prentiss stomach gave a small growl, not quite loud enough to get Tesla's attention. "Did you eat breakfast?" Prentiss stole a look at Tesla.

"Not really" Tesla continued to stare out the window.

"All I had was a muffin with coffee myself. Why don't we stop and get something, we don't have to be back for another forty-five minutes."

"Okay, whatever is good for me, I'm not picky."

"Good because I'm not to into fast food places like a lot of younger people are."

Tesla laughed a bit and turned to give Prentiss a smile. They looked for places as they drove along skipping over places like McDonalds, Wendy's and Subway. Finally Tesla spotted a café that looked promising and they pulled up and went inside to eat. The food was decent and they ate and were back on the road in good time. They made it back to the BAU offices with ten minutes till meeting to get to the jet. Hotch, Rossi and Morgan were already there and JJ would meet them at the jet. Reid showed up about six minutes after Prentiss and Tesla, apologizing about traffic and almost being late.

"Alright every get you bags, let's leave." Hotch ordered the team who all got duffel bags from their desks. On the way out Rossi got JJ's bag from her office as he passed. He tucked the binder of notes and a case file from the desk and chair in the bag as he walked to the elevator. They did talk as they got to the garage and climbed into a black SUV after stowing their bags in the back. The drive to the private air port was quick and silent. As they unloaded from the SUV JJ came over to meet them.

"The jet's ready to go once we get on. The flight should only be a few hours, we'll arrive in Las Vegas sometime in the early evening" JJ informed them as she retrieved her own bag from the SUV.

"The faster the better so we have plenty of time to set up and brief the local police," Hotch Started the team towards the waiting jet. They all filed up the steps and into the jet going to familiar seats.

Tesla was slower, taking everything in as she boarded. She looked around at how the team sat and interacted as the jet began to taxi to the runway. She finally picked a seat next to JJ facing a small table and sat down as the jet took off down the runway. She shifted in her seat when it left the ground but settled as the jet leveled off. Despite the sleep from the previous night and not do much physical activity so far during the day she found herself falling asleep. Not long after she drifted off the nightmares began.

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Spencer took up his usual spot laying on the couch as the jet started moving. He had gotten back from delivering the letter to Gideon's cabin. He'd been nervous when he got there, not knowing what to expect. Had Gideon been back at all? Could he be here now or in the area? He'd gone inside after standing and staring at the door for several minutes. No one was there and it looked like no one had been there for a while. However there were covers over most of the furniture, so at one point someone had been in. He'd left his letter exactly where Gideon had left him a letter a little over two years ago. As the jet steadily brought them closer to his home and their case he found himself nodding off. It happened from time to time on a case and he left it happen. As he fell asleep he started to dream and to remember.

_**(A little longer chapter this time…Okay so now the case/hunt for the unsub really begins. Sorry if this seems broken up I was away for the holiday and came back with writers block. Which I have chased away at 2 in the morning… Kinda choppy sorry, the next chapter will be smoother and include flashbacks. Thanks for reading, don't forget to review.)**_


	11. nightmares

"_**I have had **__**dreams**__** and I have had **__**nightmares**__**, but I have conquered my **__**nightmares**__** because of my **__**dreams**__**" - **__**Jonas Salk **_

"_**Unfortunately, the balance of nature decrees that a super-abundance of **__**dreams**__** is paid for by a growing potential for **__**nightmares**__**.**__**" - **__**Peter Ustinov **_

_It had grown dark and the cold was setting in. She was hungry and thirsty and she hurt very much. The man had hit her this morning, had hit all of them. There were several children here but only one in the stall with her. He was about her age and his name was Colin. He was sleep but every now and then he let out a whine. But she wasn't paying attention to him, no she had to be alert. __**He**__ would be back soon and then the living nightmare would begin again. Even put into pairs he cut them up one by one. There was no particular order it seemed to when he would do it but if your partner got it you were next. And so she sat watching and waiting for him to show up. She could sleep during the day with little fear of him being there but at night…she shivered. He made so much noise as he came that they were all awake via a taping system before they could make out the light of the lantern. It was always a lantern he brought to see by, never a flashlight and the little shack they were in had no lights or electricity. There was a light that was very bright, but from what she didn't know. She dreaded that light, for when it came on the screams would start. There it was! He was coming, faintly the sounds of a person moving through thick woods. Waiting till it was louder to be sure she began to tap on the wall to her right. Then she crawled over to Colin and shook him. "Up Colin, wake up." He opened his eyes quickly and sat up straight. They moved as far back in the stall as light began to creep in becoming brighter and brighter. She held her breath as the loud creaking of the door split the silence of the shack. She grabbed Colin's hand and held tight as the man passed their stall, the lantern light showing through the crack in the walls. The man never talked unless he was going to hurt them. Screeching metal made her wince as he man moved a table to the middle of the floor. Then the very bright light came on. She could hear him as he moved about getting ready to hurt one of them. Time stretched on until he started to pace back and forth in front of our stalls. She wanted to cry when his silhouette stopped in front of the door to her and Colin's stall. The bolt chinked loudly as it was undone and he shoved the door open. Colin did start to cry as he looked in on them before advancing. He grabbed at Colin and she got angry even know she was already afraid. He couldn't do it, it wasn't fair! She lashed out and hit the man, not very hard as she was weak but it was enough. "Little bitch!" He flung his arm out and hit her across the face hard. It sent her sideways onto the dirt floor. She kicked out and caught the man in the shin. It hurt her more than him she was sure as she had no shoes on. He let go of Colin giving him a shove and Colin scooted away, she smiled. "If that's what you want you can go first then," his man wrapped painfully around her arm. Lifting her she hung limp making him drag her out of the stall. He held her tight as he re-latched the door and her eye adjusted to the stronger light. The table was wood and metal and large enough to hold an adult. Trays and a stool were next to it and there was a light in a cage hooked to a pole. She started to struggle now as he dragged her to the table. "Stop that" he hit her hard again before lifting her and dropping her on the table. She hit her head and winced but panicked as he strapped her arms and legs down. From a tray the man picked up a small bottle and a needle and shook it in front of her face. He filled the needle and tied a string to her arm. "Give you just a little less, see how you think to fight" he tapped the needle and gave her the shot. It stung as he wasn't gentle and after a few moments it felt like she weighed a ton. The man turned away to put the needle back and pick up something else. She stared at his back waiting not wanting to see but suddenly unable to close her eyes. He walked to her other side and leaned over her. "Now stupid girl, you have to get ready and I'm here to help." Her eyes seemed to open wider even though she knew they didn't when the man brought up a very large knife. Tears started to slide down her face and whimpers from her throat as he cut her shirt from her. "No need for that, just get in the way" he tossed the shredded garment aside. "Let's begin" He laughed and placed the knife against her side._

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_He sat on a bench in the park, but not his park. This was somewhere else, somewhere unfamiliar. His mother had brought him here but now he couldn't find her. He knew he was supposed to stay there, that when lost you should pick a safe spot and wait to be found. Unless there were people in uniform who could help you such as a policeman. But there wasn't anyone else in sight, he was alone. After some time he couldn't sit still anymore. He got up and using the bench as a marker began to circle, keeping the bench in sight as he radiated outward. He got farther and farther from the bench and still nothing. But it brought him closer to some trees and her could weave in and out and still keep the bench in sight, unless he stopped behind a tree. He was on his third time around weaving through the branches when a hand grabbed his arm. He looked up, and up at the man the hand belonged to. "You lost kid?" The man wasn't in uniform and looked kind of nervous, or was it worried? He just shook his head and the grip on his arm tightened. "Come on, I'll take you to the parking lot, we can find a car." Not wait for an answer the man began to walk pulling him along. He had to struggle to keep up with the man who didn't take much notice of his failure to keep pace. They walked a trail that made him lose sight of the bench and he tried to slow down. "Come on kid, someone might be waiting for you" The man gave a tug on his arm. The trail they were on branched into another at a fork, the man took him to the right. He was sure he had come from the left one but in all this green he wasn't sure. The man marched on and soon he was getting tired of keeping such the man's fast pace. When he was about to say so they came to a gravel parking lot. There was only one car and he began to panic, had his mom left him? But then he realized that it wasn't the same parking lot that he had come it at. The man was pulling him towards the only car there and he tried to stop but the man kept pulling. "Come on kid, someone to see you" the man dragging him stopped at the truck. Then man stuck a key in the lock and turning it lifted the lid. Quick as a flash he grabbed him under the arms and lifted him up. He gave a cry as the man dropped him into the trunk and holding him down brought the lid down. The man let go and shut the lid tight throwing him into darkness. He almost hit his head on the closing lid before he was tilted by something under him. He shrieked as he felt something in there with him. Something big and warm and breathing, he hit at it and got a surprise when it hit back. He stopped and so did the other hitting but not the hands that had been hitting. They were all over him until they found his face and he felt little finger. Then the fingers danced over his features seeing him in the dark. He reached out with his own hands feeling the body below him and he blushed deeply. He tried to get off the other person, obviously a child. "Stop moving!" the other child ordered and he blushed even deeper if possible when he realized his companion was a girl. "S-sorry" he whispered._

"_Well you can make up for it by helping me then" the girl's fingers left his face. Just then they stopped as the car started up. A moment later it started to move, but every slowly._

_He felt again her hands but they found his arms and guided them to the rear of the trunk causing him to lean a bit. It made him very uncomfortable but he stayed where he was. Their hands hit a wall that was covered in carpet like the bottom of the trunk._

"_The wall folds down into the car and with you we can open it and then we'll be in the car. When he stops we can open the door and get out, get away." She moved her hands down to his chest and pushed him off her and towards the wall. They could feel the car picking up speed as it rocked over the gravel. "He'll be on the road any minute so we go one three, push as hard as you can."_

_He nodded at her before realizing she couldn't see him, "Okay." The car stopped and then started again but on a smooth surface this time, and it was picking up speed fast._

"_Good. One…" she began counting and he tensed up. "Two….THREE!" They pushed and seconds later they were collapsing forward into what had been the backseat of the car. The light momentarily blinded him as the trunk had been pitch black._

"_Hey, no you little!" the car swerved and began to slow down as the man shouted. The girl was now on top of him and he was frozen looking into her face, taking in her features and she his. Then she sat up and reached over his head grabbing at the door. He tried to get out from under her, scooting forwards towards the door. He felt it open more then saw it as wind rushed in blowing his hair into his eyes. The car swerved wildly this time as the man cursed loudly. He managed to get into a sitting position as the girl got off him and seated herself. He could feel the car slowing even further but not stopping. As he brushed hair out of his eyes he saw the man's arm reaching back at them._

"_Jump you idiot, go!" the girl ducked as the arm came close to her. He shook his head trying to back away from the open door that was already too close for comfort. He felt like he was about to fall out anyway._

"_Oh no you don't! Stop!" The man reached wildly the car swaying as he did and began to speed up again._

"_Agh!" The girl cried as the man grabbed her hair, the car slowed again a fraction. The girl threw her body sideways into the back of the driver's seat. The man's had loosened on her hair and she lunged towards him. He turned away from her and found himself looking out the open door._

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A noise drew the attention of the team to the couch, and Reid. It seemed he was asleep and dreaming, not a pleasant dream either. Before anyone could say anything another noise distracted them. It can from where JJ sat and they all looked to see Tesla asleep as well, dreaming just like Reid. The team looked back and forth between the two as the disturbance seemed to spread.

Reid twitched and fidgeted on the couch, turning this way and that, almost falling off at one point. He let out a moan and a few pants before a long whine. He jerked and a pained expression washed over his face and was gone with another whimper.

Across from JJ, Tesla was doing her own squirming in her seat, wincing and moaning herself. She turned completely to the side as if she had been lying down not sitting and let out a squeak and a couple of whines.

"Does anyone else find this kind of creepy?" JJ waited to get out of her seat badly and looked over at the rest of the team.

"I wonder what their dreaming about?" Prentiss looked back and forth between Tesla and Reid.

"Garcia would have a field day with this, tons of theories I'm sure, but I'm with JJ, it's creepy. Morgan slipped off his usual headphones and got up and went to Reid's side crouching next to him. "You think I should try to wake him up?"

"I'm not sure that's the best idea, he may get embarrassed or annoyed. Let it work itself out, but if it gets worse maybe wake him then" Rossi's brow was furrowed in thought.

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_The man drew the knife from her side almost to her armpit the flat of the blade was freezing to the touch as it skimmed her side. She let out a gasp and the man laughed "careful now, must do it right." With that he readjusted the blade and pressed it into her body, splitting the skin, digging into the muscle and began bringing the blade back down her side. She couldn't move for the love of anything but she could scream. And scream she did._

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_The lines flashed before him and with a hard shove behind he was rushing down to meet them. He hit the ground hard, jarring every bone in his body and he screamed._

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Tesla screamed and sot up in her seat causing everyone to jump in surprise. She was panting heavily and looked sick and scared. A moment later they all almost had heart attacks when Reid screamed and moving up so quickly fell off the couch nearly landing on Morgan.

"Are you okay?" the whole team asked almost in unison at the two of them.

"I'm fine, just a nightmare" Reid blushed furiously and scrambled to his feet with the help of Morgan. Then he sat back down on the couch and took a few deep breaths.

"Just peachy" Tesla gave her own remark filled with sarcasm. "You got a bathroom?" she turned to JJ.

"Yes, right over behind Hotch and Rossi" she pointed to a short wall behind the two men at the back of the plane. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yes," Tesla answered curtly before springing from her seat and moving to the bathroom. She was inside in seconds and the very faint sound of water could be heard by Hotch and Rossi.

They all turned their attention back to Reid when Tesla was gone. "You want to talk about it?" Morgan asked softly. Reid shook his head and didn't look at him, some pink remaining in his cheeks. "Alright but you know I'm here if you do." With that Morgan went back to his seat across from Prentiss and slipped his headphones back on. They all took this as a sign to go back to what they were doing before. After a few moments Reid cleared his throat to draw their attention.

"We're going to have SUV's like usual right Hotch?" he looked imploringly at the older man.

"Yes Reid I assume we will, that's what was requested.

"Good. No small cars please." With that he shivered and turned away from the team leaving them to wonder. They would get nothing more from him until they landed at the Vegas airport.

In the cramped bathroom Tesla turned on the sink faucet and leaning down splashed cold water on her face. She did this several times before turning the water off and drying her face with a towel. Standing back up again she looked at her reflection in the tiny mirror. She rested her hand on the hem of her shirt the hesitantly pulled it up over her head. Lowering her arm she let it fall to the floor. Looking back at her was a pale skinny girl with even paler scars spaced out over her upper body. Her hands came up and she traced over them all, remembering. She didn't know how much time passed but it had to have been a while. Bending down she retrieved her shirt and put it back on. Making sure she looked the same as when she came in she left, walking back to her seat. She didn't say anything and neither did the team, so she faced the window and let her mind go blank for the rest of the ride.

**(Oh flashbacks! Hope you enjoyed, on with the case…next chapter. Meeting some of the other children soon! Thanks for reading, please review.)**


	12. the pursuer and the pursued

"_**All our dreams can come true...if we have the courage to **__**pursue**__** them.**__**" - **__**Walt Disney **_

"_**By working hard, old man, I hope to make something good one day. I haven't yet, but I am **__**pursuing**__** it and fighting for it . . . .**__**" - **__**Vincent van Gogh **_

"_**Never let a man imagine that he can **__**pursue**__** a good end by evil means, without sinning against his own soul. The evil effect on himself is certain.**__**" - **__**Robert Southey **_

_He wasn't going to be lonely anymore. No not alone. He would bring them together one by one like they were meant to be. Like there were supposed to be. Hand pick so long ago. He'd started small, practicing on a stray dog. When he was sure he got it right he tried it on a cow. He had it perfect! So he had begun collecting his friends. He began with a boy…no not a boy, not any more. A man who had been a boy like him. Marcus Tanner was his name and he had been nice. Until he's knocked Marcus over the head and brought him back here to play for a bit. But Marcus hadn't wanted to play. So he put Marcus to bed. A deep sleep where he would be in the happy place of dreams. He was with the other children who came before. They would wait there till they could all be together. Then he would join them and they would be forever young at play. No one would bother them, or hurt them, they wouldn't have to worry. He had just put his second friend to bed. Amy Monague was such a pretty lady, had been a pretty girl once too. Yes she fit right in. They had played for a few days. She had been so much better then Marcus, better by far. He couldn't wait for the next one to come over. Raymond King. He'd have to go pick Raymond up though. He lived in the next state over, such a long drive. But that was okay, yes it was. It would be worth it to have him over to play with. If only he would stay longer than the other two. But that was okay if he didn't there were others to play with. They had to understand how fun it was, not like last time. No this time was better, so much better. He was nicer, they had food and water and a blanket. He had even found a nicer place to put them to bed. He couldn't go back to the first place. Oh no that was _THEIR_ place. The little ones, the ones who came before, the one who waited. He had picked a place close by but he wasn't careful enough and some hikers had found Marcus. He had had to wait to get Amy till he found a new spot. And he did, it was still close but it was hidden, not even hikers would go there. He had put Amy to bed there just this morning after a wonderful sunrise. He would get Marcus back then he would put him in his new bed next to Amy. He knew how, had worked it all out. He'd get his friend back tomorrow and put him to bed again at sunset. Tomorrow was a busy day. He'd pick up Raymond on Friday, that way they had the whole weekend to play. This was good, he was so smart, everything was going to be fine._

To anyone walking by they would have seen a nice young man sitting on a bench daydreaming a large smile on his face. So at peace with his surroundings perhaps he lived near by. He sat for some time before finally shaking his head as if coming to his senses and got up walking slowly away towards civilization. As he walked away the sun was setting turning the horizon red and in the woods casting shadows over a fresh mound of dirt and a waiting hole in the soft earth.

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Having gotten back from his hobby trip earlier then he'd planned he decided to stop by the dinner for a late lunch. The parking lot was almost full, most of the vehicles there belonged to regulars but there were a few from visitors and people just passing through. He pulled around back to the employee parking but walked around to enter through the front door. As with the parking lot the dinner was mostly full. "Hey sugar, what are you doing here on your day off?" The warm southern tinted voice of the dinner's owner Mrs. Gaftner stopped him from taking a serious look at some of the visitors.

"I just can't seem to get enough of your place," he smiled at her. "I hear the food is the best in town" he went on.

"I think you hear right sugar. You wanna sit at the bar or you want your usual booth?" She asked even though she already knew the answer. She had a small two person booth in the back or the dinner that you could watch the whole place from. You could even see outside the large window in front. But it was right next to the kitchen so many people didn't like it. But he did and so she kept it reserved for him now.

"The booth will do just fine" he nodded and started over to it.

"You don't know what you're missing" she called back as she went on to whatever task she'd been doing before he'd walked in.

He sat in the booth facing the dinner and its occupants, glancing out the window too before waiting for Raymond to come by for his order. The young man had worked for Mrs. Gaftner for years and hadn't taken to him too well when he'd first arrived. But after a while they had warmed up to each other a bit. Raymond was a nice young man who had dreams of getting out of this town someday. If he got the money and then the nerve to go. Raymond came up to the little booth a moment later.

"The usual?"

"Yes."

"You really should try something different."

"I've tried them all, I like that one."

"Yeah I know but a little verity never hurt."

"No but all the same."

"Alright, Spencer Spring Time Special it is. I'll be right back with your coffee." Raymond went back into the kitchen. It was a little ritual they did each time he came in for lunch. And always he would leave the man a nice tip even if it did sometimes get annoying. He smiled for a moment as he thought of another young man, but quickly pushed the thought aside. He wouldn't think of the past, not now. And he couldn't look at the people around him worried that he might fall back on old pattern. Suddenly a little speck of color on the table was very fascinating.

**(Oaky sorry for the long wait. Finals week and more computer trouble… But it's all over now and everything should be fixed. Okay so I didn't get to the kids, but I will. Sorry it's so short too, next chapter is longer I promise. Thanks for reading, please review. More soon)**


	13. introductions

"_**There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the **__**introduction**__** of a new order of things.**__**" - **__**Niccolo Machiavelli **_

The jet landed on a lone runway on the south side of the Las Vegas airport in the late afternoon. As soon as the plane had stopped moving, the steps were lowered and the team began to deplane. Hotch was first followed by Rossi, JJ, Prentiss, Morgan, Reid and finally Tesla. They carried their go bags with them and headed in the direction of the airport. Moments later two black SUVs rounded the building. They came up to the group and stopped. The door to the lead SUV opened and a tall middle aged man with dark blond hair and a mustache and large sunglasses got out.

"You the FBI? Sorry we're late construction and traffic has been bad lately. I'm Officer McKay from the LVPD. Is that all you got with you?" McKay gestured to the bags they were carrying. "Lest pack them in back, long way back to the station and the chief is waiting to meet you." The man talked very fast and didn't leave them any room to reply before moving to the back of the SUV he drove. He opened the back hatch and waited for the team to join him and store their gear. He was in a hurry and obviously didn't like the idea of them coming into what he probably thought was the LVPD's investigation.

The team looked to Hotch when Officer McKay turned away from them. He just gave them a shrug and walked after McKay. Once they had all put their bags in the SUV McKay started talking again.

"Only got four seats here so some of you are going to have to ride with Officer Jones in the next car." Officer Jones had yet to step out of the second SUV. It's rush hour and like I said with the construction and traffic it will take a while to get there."

"And where are we going?" the slightly irritated voice of Tesla broke through McKay's explanation.

"South Central Area Command. It's on south Las Vegas Boulevard." McKay looked at her for a moment.

"I think we should leave then if it will take so much time" Hotch got McKay's attention before anything more could be said between the two people staring each other down.

"Of Course, please climb in, Jones will follow us." McKay didn't waste any more time on them, going back to the driver's seat and getting in.

"I'm with the other car" Tesla started over to the other SUV.

"This should be very interesting" Morgan had a small smile on his face.

"Morgan, JJ , Reid ride with me and McKay. Rossi, Prentiss I think you should go with Officer Jones. See if he's any more open then McKay. And keep an eye on Tesla," Hotch ordered and headed off for the passenger side of the SUV.

"Good luck guys" Morgan said and went to get in the SUV with JJ and Reid not far behind him.

"I think Morgan is right, this will be interesting. Think they might try to kill each other before the weekend?" Prentiss turned to Rossi as they walked over to the other SUV.

Rossi knew she meant Tesla and Officer McKay. Obviously they had not hit it off right for some yet unknown reason. "Twenty bucks says there will be continued hostility but no killing."

"Is that with or without Hotch's interference."

"With interference of course, he has rules."

"Well that's not fun, but you're on."

"You going to get the others involved?"

"Of course, but not Hotch. That would ruin the outcome."

"Don't forget he doesn't like us betting like this."

By then they had reached the SUV and Rossi went to climb in the passenger side. Tesla was already sitting in back. Prentiss joined her. As soon as they were buckled in Officer Jones who was young with red hair, brown eyes and a face full of freckles, started driving. Apparently Officer McKay had started off as soon as their doors had closed. They caught up to the other SUV in no time. But that was about as fast as they were going to move. Once they got away from the airport and on the road they could see McKay had been right. The traffic was horrible, the roads were packed and there was construction of some form or another every couple of miles.

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Hotch sat silently in the passenger seat as the SUV moved along in a slow pace. He looked in the rearview mirror at the second SUV. Spotting right behind them he turned back to looking out the front window. Besides the miles of cars and construction in front of them there wasn't much to see. The outline of the Vegas strip was a hazy line far ahead but there was nothing else notable yet.

"How long you plan on being here?" McKay asked breaking the silence. He had the radio off and none of the team in the SUV had spoken.

"Until we catch the unsub" Hotch didn't look at him.

"Unsub?"

"Yes it stands for unknown subject, the killer," Reid offered but didn't go on. That was unusual but then again Reid had been acting differently since his nightmare on the jet.

Morgan and JJ shared a look of concern while Hotch watched from the rearview mirror again.

"I see," McKay didn't say anything more for the rest of the ride and neither did the team. They were all thinking about the case and how they were going to solve it without causing any more hostility with McKay and hopefully the rest of the LVPD.

The last time they had had a case in Nevada, things had gone alright for the most part and they had stopped the unsub quickly, saving the last victim. But when they went to leave Reid had stayed behind, to see his mother was the story but it was actually for a case. Rossi and Morgan had opted to stay and had helped him. This had all been done under the radar and nothing bad had come at them officially. The best outcome would be to stop this unsub quickly and quietly and get Tesla and her friends some closure without alienating and angering the LVPD.

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No one had spoken in Officer Jones SUV since the beginning of the trip and the radio had been off. After about twenty minutes Tesla had begun to fidget, half an hour in she was signing and moving all the time. She began to tap her fingers on the doors arm rest not long after that.

"Would you stop that" Officer Jones finally spoke looking back at Tesla in the rearview.

"Could you give me directions and I get out and walk, I could probably get there before you" Tesla answered but stopped tapping her fingers.

"No fighting kids" Rossi interjected as Officer Jones opened his mouth to reply.

"Not to be a bother but how long of a drive are we looking at?" Prentiss leaned forward in her seat.

"About another hour maybe hour and a half if they closed exit twelve" Jones didn't look back at her.

"Do you work on the case we came here for?" Rossi asked.

"Sort of, I am supposed to help you but I haven't been briefed on the whole thing."

"I suppose we'll have to do that for most of the department once we have the profile, but in the mean time you and the other Officers we'll be working with will get the details today."

"That's good I don't like sitting in the dark. Don't suppose you could fill me in now?"

"No I'm sorry but we'll get started after our introduction at the station. We have a new lead and some new directions for you all to look at. It will be different from what you normally do. We hope everybody will be open minded, wouldn't want to step on too many toes."

Officer Jones looked at Rossi for a moment before turning his attention back to the road. "Not to many guys like change, watch your step."

"We'll keep that in mind, thanks" Rossi nodded.

They were silent again for several more minutes before Tesla started up again.

"Please stop" again Jones interrupted Tesla's movements.

"Maybe if you turn on the radio it would help" Prentiss suggested.

"We don't usually drive with the radio, it's distracting. But I guess if I keep it on low…" Jones reached over and turned the knob in the middle of the dash.

"We won't tell," Prentiss smiled at him as soft jazz began to fill the car.

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An hour and ten minutes later the radio was turned off as they pulled into the parking lot of a four story building. LVPD was in bold printed on the front of the building. The building was brick on the bottom level with two doors one on the south side and another on the north. The upper floors held large glass windows that were tinted taking over much of the space.

The two SUVs parked side by side in the visitor's spaces and everyone got out. The team grabbed their go bags from McKay's SUV quickly. Jones had handed the keys to his SUV to Rossi and went inside when they had parked. McKay had stayed to show them in and the floor they were working on. They passed the usual receptions desk and standard bullet proof glass partition in the lobby and got on an elevator. McKay hit the button for floor three as they all road in silence. Once the doors open however it was different. The office was abuzz with Officers talking, answering phones, moving from desk to desk, and writing on white boards set up all over the large bull pen.

"This way" McKay led them through the throng of Officers to a door with the plaque Chief Walters on it. McKay knocked waited a moment then opened the door and ushered the team in. Once they were inside he left closing the door behind him.

The office wasn't very large and held a desk, with three chairs in front a bookshelf behind the desk, and a file cabinet. The back of the room held a window, a table with a potted plant and another book shelf. The side wall without the door was rather empty, with the exception of a framed piece of art.

Getting up from his chair behind the desk was an older man with gray hair, blue eyes with crow's feet at the edges and a serious face. He was average height but stood straight, his body still fit despite his years.

"Sorry I couldn't meet you at the airport; it's been very busy around here. I'm Chief Walters if you didn't notice the sign on the door. Now I'm not going to lie and say I'm thrilled to have you here but I do realize we need the help. Just try not to ruffle too many feathers and watch how you push the Officers and I think we'll get along just fine. Now I'd like your names and I'll show you around before you get started." Walter's had a slight southern accent that had been worn down by the years in Nevada but spoke of a southern upbringing.

"I'm Special Agent in charge Hotchner. These are Special Agents Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, and Jareau who is also are media liaison and Dr. Reid." Hotch pointed out and introduced each or the team. "And this is a consultant Tesla," Hotch pointed out the odd member of the group who had hung back.

"Well welcome to the LVPD agents. I'll show you to the area we set up for you." With that Walters walked past them and opened the door. He led them out and down the outer edge of the bull pen. There was a door halfway down the length of the pen and it was cracked open. Walter's pushed it all the way open and entered, flipping on a light even though the room was brightened but the light coming in several large windows. "Not much but it should have everything you need, anything else just ask. You good for a while or is there something you want now?"

The team looked around a conference room similar to theirs back at the BAU. A circular table dominated the room, with several chairs. There was a flat screen TV on one wall and a large while board on another with a cork board on a stand next to it. Next to a window was a small desk with a computer. The table was covered in boxes and papers. Some were new, others looked very old.

"I think we will be alright for a little while. Those are the case files," Hotch said more a statement then question.

"Yes, all the new information and much as we could scrape together of the older stuff. More will come in tomorrow, it was stored in a different area." Walters nodded at the boxes.

"Thank you. We'll need to talk to all the Officers on this case but it can wait until tomorrow."

"All have them all ready for you in the morning then. Again anything missing or you need just ask." With that Walter's left them to begin.

**(Sorry it's taken so long for an update RL is kicking me right now and I've been pretty busy. But fear not things are getting back to normal so there will be an update next weekend and a hopefully longer chapter. Will be introducing the team to the Officers next and the past child victims soon. Thanks for reading and reviewing.)**


	14. debriefing

"_**We began the process of **__**debriefing**__** each other, sharing what our unique experiences were, ... **__** - **__**Kathleen Blanco **_

"_**That talks about how not to burn your people out and how exposure to extreme situations and major disasters requires people to be **__**debriefed**__** and talked through. It's akin to some of the things we experience with troops in combat and post traumatic stress disorder.**__**" - **__**Royal Sheeley **_

The team set their bags down in the corner to the left of the door and began to fan out around the table. Reid, start setting up the geographical profile, one for the original crimes one for the copy cat. JJ get the connection to Garcia set up, Morgan check all the old crime scene photos with the new ones. Compare anything different between the two. Prentiss get all the medical files in order for both cases, see if there is any overlap. Doctors, examiners, even mortuaries they were sent to. Rossi get a list of the Officers helping us out as a favor, round them up and bring them in for a quick brief." Hotch looked at each team member as he gave out orders. The team did not object as it was usual. "Tesla," Hotch turned to her as she stood away from the team. "I need you to write down the ways we can get in contact with your friends. We will eventually need to interview them. And if we can't find the copy cat soon any of them in state might need to be put on a protection detail." He tried to soften his voice and give a comforting and calm expression. But after years on the job, and a few personal tragedy's he didn't quite make it.

"Sure" Tesla mumbled coming up to the table and taking a seat at a relatively empty spot. "Got paper?" she asked as she pulled out a pen. JJ handed her a piece from a pile next to the computer she had turned on. "Thanks."

Without further word the team began their various tasks and soon the table was covered in papers from the boxes and files that had to be removed from the table to make more room. Each member had a small space at the table to work with general information in the center that was being depleted as it was sorted out. Rossi had disappeared out into the bull pen ten minutes after they had been given their assignments.

Reid had to go out and ask for a second map as here had only been one provided. As soon as he got the maps pinned side by side to the cork board with inches to spare, he commandeered a few files from the table. With frightening speed, at least to Tesla as the rest of the team had been through this, Reid was coving the maps in various colored push pins. He only got part way in before grumbling and having to go out again to ask for more pins. The women on the team smiled and Morgan had laughed once he left. Hotch had just shook his head, and continued looking and rearranging some files he had set aside for himself after giving out his orders.

When Reid came back he was accompanied by Rossi.

"There are four main officers helping us and a relief officer if we need him. They should be here in five minutes after they finish the tasks they have right now" Rossi reported to Hotch who nodded.

"I've got Garcia on standby, she wants a check in before we head out for the evening," JJ said coming over to the table.

"That's my girl" Morgan smiled.

"That's fine, JJ I saw quite a few news clippings in some of the files and a tape labeled as old news footage. See if you can get a Player that we can hook up to the T.V. and start going over all the coverage. We might find a clue as to where our copy cat did or didn't get his information." Hotch pointed to a small stack in the center of the table.

JJ took the files and the tape to a space of open table close to the flat screen. Then she went out to ask for a VCR. She came back a few minutes later followed by an officer pushing a cart with some older machines on it. They included a VCR and an old tape player machine. The officer helped her connect the VCR and then stepped back out of the way eyeing the team.

Moments later there was a knock on the door and Reid stepping away from his now almost finished multicolored maps opened it. Four officers including McKay and Jones were outside. Reid steeped out of the way so they could enter. They gravitated towards the wall with the window so they could see the whole room and to cut down on the glare of the sun which was coming into position to stream full force through the windows now.

The team continued to work as Hotch got up from his seat and approached them. "Chief Walter's has you all working this case." It was more of a statement then a question. The officers nodded and looked about taking in the various team members. "Then we'll start the briefing after we get the introductions over with."

At this point the team had stopped working and stood up, except for Tesla. She remained sitting but looked at each officer as if trying to judge them.

"I'm SSA Hotchner, this is my team SSA Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, SSA and Media liaison Jareau, and SSA Dr. Reid. We also have a consultant Tesla who for the remainder of the case will be treated as a part of this team. Any questions about that?" Hotch pointed out each member. None of the officers spoke up. "We have met officer's McKay and Jones. Now we would like to know who you are."

"I'm officer Fisher" the only female in the group introduced herself. She was short and willowy with blond hair in a bob cut and blue eyes.

"Officer Nickles," a tall youngish man with red hair and beard with gray eyes and glasses introduced himself next.

"Officer Pike" the last man introduced himself. He was older, short and thick with black hair and brown eyes that were slightly slanted.

"All right, now I assume that all of you know something about this case to a degree." Hotch went on.

"Yes sir," officer Nickles nodded.

"Good, what we are going to give you is a basic profile of our unsub based on what we know about his killings and information from the original. You will be looking for a man between the ages of twenty and thirty five. He appears to be a normal member of society, he has a job, pays his taxes" Hotch started.

"What makes him different however is that despite how he seems he can only fake getting along with all the people around him. He may seem charming and shy at times when in truth he is very closed off, he prefers to work by himself, he avoids large gatherings." Rossi took over from there, continuing the profile. "He will work a job that allows him freedom to move about and not check in often with his superiors."

"Once he makes a connection to someone however he will project himself towards that person so much his true self will be brought out. This is a person with little boundaries regarding the others feelings and physical and emotional state. He will be convinced that person will like him and any interaction will only urge him on. If rejected he will become hostile and aggressive." Morgan spoke out his turn.

"He has a specific target range of people he's looking for and a large area to operate out of." Reid took over standing next to his maps. "He will be in good shape, and know his way around a large area having lived in or studied the places he works out of and where the bodies were found.

"What makes this case harder however is the fact that out unsub is copying a case from nearly two decades ago. This case in itself was hard to solve and our unsub will have learned from his predecessors mistakes. He is also so closely aligned that on fist look the cases are exactly the same. Also the only victims to be found so far are previous victims of the original killer." Hotch brought the basic profile full circle.

"How is it possible that the victims are the same?" Officer Fisher looked confused.

"Some of them lived through the first attack," Tesla's voice drew all of their attention. "Your copy cat is preying on the children that got away." Tesla's voice was hard and her face slack but her eyes were watery.

"We will have more details tomorrow when we brief the rest of the officers. You can go now, we will see you tomorrow" Hotch drew their attention back to him.

The officers nodded and left the room, not looking at any of the team members and keeping themselves focused on getting out. Once they were gone and the door closed the team went back to working on their assignments. But they all snuck looks at Tesla who had seemed to have herself composed again. This wasn't going to be any easier in the morning.

"Here is that list you wanted," Tesla said a few minutes later passing the paper she had been working on down to Hotch. "I would appreciate it if you kept the list either with you or let me have it back when you are done. I don't really want it to be sitting out in the open with the copy cat trying to kill the people on it."

"I'll hang on to it, it will be safe" Hotch replied looking over the list. "Why don't you help JJ sort through the media coverage." He would have liked Rossi to do that and had she work with Prentiss. But having had a nightmare on the plane and to confront the officers after bringing up everything to convince them to help this morning he could see she was wearing thin in emotions. Having her look through the medical files would be useful but painful. It could wait till tomorrow when they were all better rested and more balanced, the first day shock having worn off. None of the team would ever admit it but they all suffered first day shock as he thought of it. The news of whatever case they worked, those first looks into the facts and then the mind of some unsubs crimes, and it was a shock. One they got over as they focused but it was always there. "Rossi, help Prentiss with the medical files, I'm sure there is a lot there."

The older profiler nodded, understanding Hotch's choice. He sat next to Prentiss and she passed over some of the files.

The team kept busy sorting, looking over, comparing and rearranging files until the sun was setting and their stomachs started to complain. They had worked through lunch and now they were regretting it.

"Alright lets pack it up for tonight, there isn't much more we can do right now." Hotch said and the rest of the team quickly set aside their work.

As they got up and stretched a bit Morgan went over to the computer and hit a few keys. Soon Garcia's image filled the monitor.

"Good evening my lovelies, what can the fountain of knowledge refresh you with today?" She smiled at all of them as they wondered over to the screen.

"We are done for the night and checking in as requested baby girl" Morgan spoke up.

"Oh good, it is never a good idea to work until you fall asleep at the table. I will be off then myself, but if you need anything you have but to call."

"Good night Garcia," most of the group said almost as one.

"Oh so cute! Goodnight my doves" and she was gone from the screen. Morgan turned off the monitor after putting the computer into hibernate mode to save energy as the computer was never turned off until the investigation was over.

The team gathered their go bags and headed out to the SUV's as Hotch went to tell Chief Walter's they were leaving for the night. As he went to do that Rossi had taken his bag so they could leave faster. They split up into the same groups they came in as they climbed into the SUV's and slowly made their way down the strip. Forty-five minutes later they were off the main strip and onto one of the lesser areas side streets. There were smaller casinos and more space where some even smaller stores had found purchase. Further down there were a string of hotels, nothing like those on the strip but better then the run down chain hotels even further on the outskirts of the city. They pulled into one that had a ramp leading down to a small underground garage. Parking and getting their bags they walked to some elevators on the opposite end of where they parked. It was just big enough to hold them all standing almost touching. The music was old time swing and show tune that was supposed to remind visitors of Vegas yester years. When the doors opened to the lobby it was empty except for a single clerk behind a small reception desk. The clerk, a short older woman with graying hair in a bun and dull green eyes looked up at them. She had looked board until she noticed how large their group was and the fact that some of them had guns present. However she didn't flinch or panic like some clerks would do seeing armed people enter. She had made the connection between the guns and the professional look they wore and their ease of arrival.

"Can I help you?" she asked as they approached.

"Yes we have a reservation. Three rooms under BAU and Hotchner" Hotch set his bag down and waited for the papers he would have to signed.

The woman typed on her computer before hitting them print button and a copier behind her came to life spitting out several papers. He turned and grabbed them, sorting them and placing them on the counter with a pen. "Sign here," she marked several lines with x's and turned away.

As Hotch signed, skimming over the papers which were really the same at all the hotels they used she woman opened a drawer and pulled out several cards. She began typing on her computer again and sliding the cards through a machine. Finally she slipped the cards into little envelopes and handed them over to Hotch as she collected the now signed papers.

"You have rooms 203, 205 and 207 on floor two. Anything else I can do for you?"

"Do you have a dining area or know of a place close by," Hotch gathered the envelopes.

"Third floor all the way at the end of the hall, only open for another hour" the woman answered.

"Thank you," and Hotch picked up his bag and took a few steps towards the team who had hung back. Morgan and Reid room 207, JJ and Prentiss you are with Tesla in room 205 and Rossi and I are in 203." He handed out the envelopes with the key cards. "Get settled in and meet in the hall in fifteen. There's a dining area on the third floor, we'll eat there tonight."

The team nodded and they all crammed back into the elevator for the ride up to the second floor. From there they dispersed to their rooms. The rooms were identical, two full beds, a couch, small table, two chairs, a T.V., single night table with telephone. The closet held the usual large suitcase holder, small safe and ironing board. The bathroom had a single sink, combination bathtub and shower, toilet and a hair dryer. They all set their bags down and locked guns away before exiting into the hall. They were all too hungry to worry about beds at the moment. They once again climbed into the elevator and headed up. When they got to the third floor and started walking down the hall they could smell food from the dining area. This would probably be the last time they could sit down and rest while eating for a while once the case shifted into full gear in the morning. They all hope they could make it last for a while.

_**(Okay not quite much longer as the last chapter but enough. Soon we meet some of Tesla's friends and another update from our unsub. And I am not a profiler but I got their profile as close as I could to hopefully be real enough. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, more answers to come. Feel free to review.)**_


	15. starting point

_**"There is no reason to start pointing fingers or looking at each other. It's important to stay positive and know that we can do this, if we come together." - Matt Radoslovich**_

"_**I think that this is a good **__**starting**____**point**__**. I certainly don't think we need to be watching him while he sleeps.**__**" - **__**Richard Gates **_

The night had passed without incident but the morning came all too soon for the team. For JJ and Prentiss the morning routine was a little off as they had to share the bathroom with Tesla, who seemed to be a little shy and self conscience. She had waited for them to finish before locking herself into the bathroom to shower and change. Thus they didn't finish getting ready on time and were last to meet the others in the dining area for a quick light breakfast.

"Ah, it's the sleeping beauties at last" Morgan teased when they arrived at the table.

"I'd like to see you share a bathroom with two other people and need extra time to take care of long hair and makeup. So until then I'd watch what you say," Prentiss glowered at him. Morgan just laughed. JJ and Tesla didn't comment but JJ shot a warning glance at Morgan as well.

After finishing breakfast they all went down to the SUVs. They rode back to the station in the same groups they had left in the previous night. It was silently agreed that they wouldn't be changing groups unless necessary. Morning traffic was just as bad as the day before and they were all glad when they pulled into their now designated parking spaces. They made their way up to the third floor no one spoke. They were all gathering their thoughts and checking their emotions to make sure everything was done in absolute professionalism once the doors opened. Today the case was officially started. They would inform the whole station with the basic profile and get a task team started. They would also send officers out to look over the crime scene again. Coroners needed to be consulted and the body re-inspected. The hardest part would also begin today. The reinterviewing or the victims. It was bound to be an emotional rollercoaster for all involved.

As the team headed off to the conference room that was their temporary office Hotch went to see Chief Walters. He knocked on the door jam of the open office. Walters was sitting at his desk going through one of his drawers.

"Ah agent Hotchner come in," Walters looked up at him.

Hotch stood in front of the desk but didn't sit down. "I'd like to go over the profile with all the officers today. Set up a task force for information and tips. Also I'd like some help relooking over the crime scenes if you can spare a few of them." Hotch got right down to business as he was known to do.

Walters nodded as Hotch spoke and frowned after, his brow winkled as he thought. "I can have all the officers, day and night shift, in by one. It would take a while but that's the earliest I can do I'm afraid. As for the task force that isn't an issue unless you want other counties to participate. Then there will be something to work out. The officers I assigned you yesterday will be at your disposal for the duration of the case. If you need any more ask, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you. I understand the constraints of the shifts but the earlier you can get the officers together the better."

"Oh course, I'll see what I can do but realistically look forward to one."

"I understand, I will see you then." Hotch left Walters to get his team started.

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The rest of the day had been hard after lunch. He had done his grocery shopping and laundry at lightning speed as to not look at the people around him as he waited in line or to switch machines. Once back at the bed and breakfast he closed himself in his room. He had the daily paper to keep him busy for a while and a new location to pick for his next bird watching session. However it wouldn't keep him busy all day and he disliked watching television. There was the news but that wouldn't be on for another few hours. He sat down and started in on the paper once he had put his cloths away.

Some time later when he was almost done with the paper he heard a loud bang and a curse from outside. He gave a small smile and got up to look out the window. Below out in the parking lot Mr. Harris, another guest, had the hood of his old truck up with wisps of smoke curling up from it. He was bent over the engine checking to see if he had done more damage. Mr. Harris's truck was so old it seemed to be held together by spit and glue and worked on a prayer. At least once a week it broke down and he was forever trying to put it back together again.

An idea came to him and his smile widened. He didn't know too much about fixing trucks but he knew a little. He folded his paper and left his room taking his time to go out the door and walk over to Mr. Harris.

"Need a hand Mr. Harris?" He waited until Harris was standing straight. He had come upon Mr. Harris the first time with his head down inspecting the truck. When he'd gone to introduce himself he'd startled the older man who had subsequently bumped his head on the hood when he'd stood up.

Mr. Harris turned to him, "Oh you know something I don't?"

"Not at all, just thought I could lend a hand."

Well then hand me that screw driver," Mr. Harris pointed to his tool box sitting on the ground to his lift.

"Sure," and so they worked together for the next two hours. No real conversation was needed as they worked and they got along well with gestures.

"Thanks for the help today," Mr. Harris said once they were finished and the truck roared to life as a test was done.

"My pleasure" he answered nearly shouting over the noise. He waved at Mr. Harris and returned to his room to wash up and see the news. Dinner would be ready down stairs within the hour. The owner of the bed and breakfast, Miss. Denton, served two meals a day. Breakfast and dinner which were served in a large dining room next to a communal living room. Everyone was on their own for lunch. There were two large refrigerators in the kitchen that you could store food in and as long as you cleaned up when you were done the kitchen was open to all guests. After washing up he settled in a chair and turned on the small television in the corner and flipped to the local news. After watching the local news he turned to the national news. It was amazing how much tragic news was presented and he felt sad. There was so much good news out there too if one would bother to look. Once that was over he headed downstairs for dinner. Miss. Denton had made a light stew with fresh bread and salad. A few other guests joined in and light conversations about the day, the weather, and a ball game were exchanged. He didn't contribute much, but he was a great listener. When the meal was over he excused himself to his room. He took a quick shower and finished the paper before turning in early.

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The evening went by very quickly for him and he had gotten in lots of work. Working both a free lance job and editing for a small local paper had its advantages. Like the one he took just this afternoon. He smiled as he thought back on it now. He was at the hospital confirming information on a story he was editing for the paper. With his visitors and press passes there was almost no where he couldn't go. He would be back the next day to get his friend, Marcus. No one would look twice at him and he had made sure that when he went he would not be caught, not by the security guards, not by cameras, and not by the staff. He had prepared his car for the trip both to the hospital and to the spot where he would gather all his friends. He still had much to do though. He would have to work very hard when he got back tomorrow and all of the next day if he wanted to get Raymond by the end of the week. The long weekend would be free of work and therefore he could spend all his time playing. Yes it would work; he just had to concentrate on his work. As he got ready for bed he thought ahead to the weekend. Oh the fun they would have together. He smiled as he fell asleep, his dreams showing him the wonderful things to come.

**(Okay the case is officially on in Nevada. Also a check in with a friend and our unsub at the last bit. I realize I should have done the last two bits in the previous chapter as the team is now on the next day but… oh well. Next chapter the beginning of meeting the kids. Also it will be longer as this one was short. Thanks for reading.)**


	16. a trick

"_**Don't waste time learning the "**__**tricks**__** of the trade. Instead, learn the trade.**__**" – Unknown**_

"_**History is nothing but a pack of **__**tricks**__** that we play upon the dead**__**" - **__**Voltaire**_

When Hotch re-entered the conference room he saw the team had spread out. Reid was double checking his geographic profile even though there was no need. Morgan and Rossi were looking at some of the original crime scene photos, comparing them to the new one scene. Prentiss had a medical file in front of her, a slightly puzzled look on her face and JJ was putting together a press release form on the computer. Tesla sat with the group photo of her friends and a cell phone. Everyone turned to Hotch when he walked in.

"We'll give the profile at one o'clock and I want to have a press conference by the time the evening news comes on for tips." Hotch announced and several of the team nodded their heads. "In the mean time we need to go over the medical reports with the coroners and examiners, as well as check out the old crime scene and dumping ground. Looking at the new dumping ground might help us locate the site where the last victim was killed. We also need to start to reinterview the victims and any possible witnesses."

"I have a rough draft or a release already, after the group profile I can have the kinks worked out and it should be ready by the five o'clock news cast" JJ spoke up first.

"I'd like to take a look at the old crime scene and dumping ground if I can get one of the detectives to go with me," Morgan volunteered.

"If you take the old scenes I'll take the newer dumping grounds," Rossi looked over at Morgan the back to Hotch who nodded.

"That's fine but take an officer with you too" he turned to Prentiss and Reid.

"I'll go over the medicals and talk to the coroners" Reid offered glancing at Prentiss who gave him a thankful look.

"I can help JJ or put together information that Garcia will be sending us" Prentiss walked over to JJ.

"That will help, especially if you want us to set up tip lines Hotch," JJ wrote a note in her file.

"That's fine" Hotch answered.

"Tesla I need you to go over the list you made yesterday. I need to know who we should be contacting first, who might have the most information to share, and who might have some extra insight on either the original unsub or the copy cat." Hotch took out the list and handed it back to her.

She nodded and took the paper, sitting down and looking it over. It only took her a few minutes as the rest or the team began gathering their files and anything that might be helpful to them. Rossi had gone out to see if any of the officers who were assisting them had clocked in yet. He came back in with Officer Nickles when she finished going over the list. She got Hotch's attention by sliding the list in his direction.

"The closest would be Brittany Mosley. She lives in New York now but I know that she is visiting family in Tuscarora. She's been there for a week so she may know what's going on. If she doesn't she could be in the most danger. Besides me, she is the closest to the area that started all this. Also she was taken a day and a half before me, she may know more about Jer…the original unsub."

"Then I support your choice in contacting her first," Hotch picked up the list and looked for the name she had mentioned.

"Her cell phone number was on the list I gave you, it's the best way to reach her, but I would like to be the one to talk to her. At least first so she won't freak out or run back to New York when you tell her what you want."

"All right, but we'll use the speaker phone. It will make this a little easier."

Tesla nodded and scooted closer to Hotch. Before he could start the call however there was a knock at the conference room door. Not waiting for an invite it opened a bit and Officer Fisher stuck her head in before side stepping the rest of her body in and closing the door.

"You wanted me for something?" She looked around at the team.

"Yes, I'm going to take a look at the old crime scene and dumping grounds from the original killings. I need you to come along for back up and a second set of eyes." Morgan closed his file and walked over to her.

"Sure thing, let me just go get my gun," she walked back out and Morgan followed.

"We are off as well, we'll see you this afternoon," Rossi said to Hotch and nodded to Nickles before they too left.

Reid was still putting together his files and JJ with Prentiss at her side were by the computer going over the press statement and waiting for Garcia. Now was the hard part, the beginning or the interviews. Hotch hit the Button to open the phone line.

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He had waited almost an hour for the spot to open up close to the door but at an angle from the camera. He pulled in as soon as the little neon had pulled out. Making sure he had his pass clipped to his coat and his hat pulled low over his face he got out of the car. When he entered he stood in a corner of the waiting room pretending to look at a direction board. He could see the entire area, and when the small group of people milling about stopped looking his way he moved towards the check in desk. Again waiting a moment for receptionist got distracted by the phone. He walked by, flashing the pass clipped almost completely on the side of his shirt and walking in a purposeful manor. No one paid much attention as he grabbed a wheelchair from a line of them and continued on. He walked purposefully into the main hall then down a smaller hall past a busy nurse's station. One looked up but saw the wheelchair and his pass where he had clipped it for the best sideways view and looked away. He took a left at the end of the hall and right around the corner stopped in front of an elevator. The doors looked a little narrower than the other elevators in the hospital and the doors were painted to blend in with the walls. There was only one button next to it. It was a downward pointing arrow. He pressed it and stood waiting, seconds later the door opened to the empty elevator car. Stepping in he pressed one of the four buttons, and began to hum as the doors slide closed. The ride down was quick and quiet; no music was played in here. When the doors opened again he faced a wall with directs telling him what lay to the right and what lay to the left. _"Ah, the right is right,"_ he thought as he turned down the hall marked morgue. When he got there he left the wheelchair in the hall and cracked open the door. There was no one in his line of sight so he pushed the door the rest of the way open and looked around the whole place. No one, just as he had hoped. It was in between shifts, and close to breakfast time. All the staff would be in their offices or the cafeteria filling out paperwork and grabbing a much needed bite to eat. Reaching out he pulled the wheelchair in and closed the door. He walked backwards to the wall of drawers the medical examiner kept the bodies in keeping an eye on the door just in case. Glancing at the drawers he quickly located the one with his friend. He let go of the wheelchair and yanked the door open with one hand and reached in for the body tray with the other. Sliding it out, his friend lay naked in on the cold surface, a sheet coving him from the waist down. He body was gray but he looked peaceful. Taking his coat off he then used one arm first under his friends neck then sliding down his back for leverage got him into a leaning positing. It was hard but with the other hand he hung his coat around his friend's shoulders then lowered him back down. When his friend was again lying flat he maneuvered the limp arms into the sleeves and zipped the coat up over the stitched chest. Then he placed the wheelchair close to the tray, almost under it and made sure the breaks were engaged. Taking his friend under the arms he turned the torso and began to pull. As his friends body began to slide off the tray it turned. Teetering on the edge a moment he gave his friend one last tug and his body fell into the wheelchair. Pulling his friend straight the rearranged the sheet that had been covering his friends body and stuffed part of it under the coat. He then tucked his friend's feet in and pulled an extra hat from his back pocket. He placed it low over his friend's face and angled the face down. Unlocking the breaks he pushed the tray back in and closed the door, whipping the handles as he did so. Then he calmly pushed his friend out of the morgue and back to the elevator. He began to get nervous waiting for it to arrive, and was relieved to find it empty. Getting in, they rode up to the second level he pulled his pass off as they went. Less of a chance of running into a newly arrived staff member. They got off at the second floor and pushed his friend down the hall to the regular elevators where they rode to the main floor. Then as if he were excited to be taking a patient home he walked past the main waiting room on the side and out the front door.

_**(Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter and crappy writing, I have been very sick recently and no energy to do anything and no real computer access either. But I caved and finally went to the doctor (which I hate…they do wonderful work but I still don't like to go). Now I am getting better and can have the computer back. Another chapter on Sunday to make up for not posting and shortness. Thanks for hanging in there and reading.)**_


	17. learning from the past

"_**I told him to come back and be ready. You can't undo the **__**past**__** but you can **__**learn**__** from your **__**mistakes**__**.**__**" - **__**Rashad Anderson **_

"_**We hit some speed bumps early; but that's the time to hit them. What's important is that we **__**learned**__** from the **__**mistakes**__** we made in the **__**past**__**.**__**" - **__**Jim O'Brien**_

Morgan, Fisher, Rossi and Nickles walked out together after the two officers had grabbed their equipment. Once in the parking lot they headed towards the two SUVs.

"Good luck with the scenes, I'll see you this afternoon," Rossi called over to Morgan as before he climbed into the SUV Nickles doing the same.

Morgan waved at him and got into his own SUV. Fisher, who was slightly shorter had to hoist herself into the SUV using the door handle.

"Where are we going?" she asked once she was sitting down and buckling her seatbelt.

"Great Basin National Park. There's an old crime scene I need to look at" Morgan started the SUV and pulled out of the station lot.

"So we are going to look at the old crime. Wouldn't it be more important to look at the new crime scene? I mean that's the case you are working on isn't it?" Fisher sounded confused.

Morgan nodded, "It is important but the old scene is just as important. The new unsub is taking all his cues from the old murders. Everything from the killings, mutilations, dumpings."

"The victims," she looked over at Morgan and he glanced at her.

"The victims especially, they are the first victims as well."

"They?"

"Yes, the body already found belonged to a surviving victim of the original unsub and a second has been missing for a while. We usually don't like to speculate too much but we think she could be dead already. This means our unsub is looking for another victim. By studying the older case we can gather information that might have been missed by the original investigation. Or we get a better understanding of him and thus a leg up on our new unsub."

"Sounds like a demented game of follow the leader if you ask me," Fisher shook her head.

"Yeah but with deadlier consequences if we slip up." Fisher nodded at this.

After riding for a while in silence Morgan noticed the Fisher kept sneaking glances at him, her brows would furrow in thought then she would clench her jaw like stopping herself from speaking. A little while later she began to fidget.

"Something you want to ask Fisher?" Morgan tried not to sound amused when she flushed slightly.

"Um, the girl, your consultant,"

"Yeah?"

"She…was she a victim?" It was almost a whisper.

"She was, and she is trying to help us so the others won't fall victim again" Morgan didn't look at her.

"I'm sorry" Fisher looked out the window.

"It's alright, if you want talk to her. She doesn't mind , she just wants to help." Again Fisher nodded at this. The rest of the ride was silent.

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Rossi Pulled out of the station parking lot as soon as Nickles had his belt buckled. They crawled down the busy strip until they came to a freeway exit. They headed north picking up pace as they went. Neither spoke for about forty-five minutes. In was Nickles who broke the silence.

"So you think you can catch this killer but out thinking him?" He didn't sound condescending but curious.

"Not completely no, we just try to get how he sees the world. His perspective of it is how we figure out why he does what he does. And when we know why we couple it with the how and most of the time it gives us a shot at narrowing down potential victims and cutting off his next attack."

"But don't we know who he's going to attack here? I mean, what your other agent in there said was you had a list of victims. You guys have a to do list for this killer, why not just bring all these people in or put protection on em. You can catch the killer when he comes."

Rossi smiled for a second at Nickles logic.

"That would be nice but it's not quite that simple. Yes we have a list but it's incomplete and these people are scattered all over the US by now. Besides we don't know how the unsub picks their order to kill. We don't have enough information on the unsub yet to know if he'll go after family members or new victims if we take his targets away."

"So you just try to find something new to add to find this guy faster?"

"Yes, we look for anything new, anything he may have improved on from the first killings. He's learned from the past and so have we. But we need to do more, we need to almost be him. Looking at new clues and following in his footsteps brings us that much closer to him."

"So you learn and then what, teach us?"

"We will provide you with the profile. Ways to detect the unsub, pick him out of a crowd and stop him hopefully before he kills another victim."

"That's a lot of work for a hopefully."

"It's the best we can do for the moment and we are pretty good at it."

Nickles nodded and became silent again. As time went on they continued a comfortable silence. After a very long drive the scenery began to change and they finally found themselves entering the Great Basin National Park. It was a very different sight from the city but neither of them looked around. They remained focused on their goal of getting to the new dump site.

**(Sorry for the short chapter, still low on energy and getting limited computer time. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Tried to keep everyone in character. Thanks for ready, new chapter upcoming weekend, and it will be longer. Also more unsub and kids coming up!)**


	18. first interview

_**It is not what you say that matters but the manner in which you say it; there lies the secret of the ages. - **__**William Carlos Williams**_

The dial tone seemed loud in the room as no one was talking. Tesla dialed the number from the list very rapidly. It was almost so fast Hotch thought she might hit a wrong number. But he sat back and waited as the sound of ringing came from the speaker. The line was answered in the middle of the fourth ring.

"Hello?" a slightly winded female voice asked.

"Hello, is this Brittany?" Tesla asked back.

"Yes, that's me." The woman sounded like she had caught her breath now. It was slightly high pitched and hurried.

"Brittany it's me Tes," Tesla looked at Hotch before going on. "We need to talk for a minute okay. I'm on speaker with someone I want you to talk to."

"Um, sure" Brittany sounded a bit confused and they could hear her moving about over the line.

"Good, now I need you to sit down, this will take a bit. Also it's sensitive so maybe you want to have someone with you."

"What's going on? Who is with you?" Now Brittany sounded worried.

"Brit just do what I say okay. I'll explain but like I said sit down, maybe with your mom."

More sounds of movement could be heard. Then a muffled voice, like the phone had been covered while someone was talking and didn't want to be overheard. Then the sounds were clear again. "Okay Tes, I'm sitting and I got my aunt here. Now what's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm in Nevada, Las Vegas to be more exact. I don't know if you have been paying much attention to the news, but there is a situation here. One that has to do with us. Now before I go on I need you to take a deep breath and try to relax a bit." Tesla looked over at Hotch and he gave her a nod to continue.

"Tes?" it was almost a whine on the other end before a few big breaths and signs could be heard.

"Brit, Amy is missing and Marcus has died. He was murdered, his body was found in the park. It's like before, when we were little. The person who wants to talk to you is a man named Aaron Hotchner. He works for the F.B.I. and he is helping me try to find Amy and catch Marcus's killer. It's really, really important. I want you to answer any questions and if you feel scared I'm right here." As she spoke the sound of labored breathing began coming from the speaker. By the time Tesla was done there was outright panting coming from the phone. Hotch opened his mouth to say something but Tesla held up her hand and shook her head.

"Breath Brittany, hold my hand, breath," a worried female voice could be heard over the panting. "Don't pass out, head down dear, deep breaths," the voice continued. The panting soon lessoned as Tesla and Hotch waited.

As they did Reid who was looking a bit uncomfortable finished shoving his papers into correct files and headed for the door. "Be back later," he whispered as he quickly left. Hotch had only nodded at his retreating form before focusing back on the phone. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed JJ and Prentiss trying to listen in and focus on their work.

"He's back, he can't be back, he's dead." Brittany's voice was full of panic and thread.

"Yes he's dead but someone else is copying him. I'm gonna let Aaron talk now okay but I'm right here."

"Brittany, this is Aaron, take a moment if you need to but I would appreciate it if you could answer some questions" Hotch spoke up for the first time.

More deep breaths and a few hiccup like sounds were heard as they waited again. After a minute Brittany spoke again.

"What…what is it?" She sounded almost smaller now and still very scared but not as panicked.

"I work with a unit of people who study the behavior of criminals. Tesla came to me when your friend Amy went missing. We believe someone has studied the crimes against you and your friends. My and my teams job is to stop this person by learning why and how he's doing his. We try to catch criminals before they can hurt anyone else. I know this will be hard but I want to ask you about what happened to you when you were a child. What you tell me came help me and my team catch the person who took and killed your friends. Can I ask you those questions?" Hotch tried to sound polite and soothing but from JJ's wince in his Peripheral vision he didn't quite get it.

Brittany's breaths became hitched as she got scared again but after a moment and more muffled talking on her end she sounded a bit better.

"I tried to bloke out most of…that but there are some things you can't forget. What is it you want to know?"

"You'll do fine, anything is better than nothing," Tesla reassured her before Hotch could ask anything.

"We need to know about the time you spent with the unsub, I mean with the man who took you. I know you were with him for a few days. Do you remember if you talked to the children there with you?" Hotch began with something he thought was more gentle.

"We weren't supposed to talk, but we did. I really don't remember much of what we talked about when we did." Brittany was beginning to sound better.

"Do you remember if the kids before you said how long they had been there?"

"No, we didn't talk about time limits. We, we knew that we were going to die, we didn't want to think about how long we had."

"Alright, how about anything that your attacker said? Did he mention anything about time?"

"No, I… I don't. I don't want to talk about him." Brittany's breathing was speeding up again.

"Do you remember how many children were there before you?" Hotch switched back to soothing a bit safer.

"Three, maybe four pair. No three it was three pair."

"Good, was Marcus a part of the three pairs?"

"Yes. So was Amy, But they weren't a pair."

I know that he hurt you, but did he ever do anything for you? Water, food, anything?"

"No, he would just hurt us" Brittany's voice go lower, she breath shuddered.

"Alright, I know this is has been hard but you have done well. I'm done for now but I may need to ask you some more questions later. Will you be alright where you are? If you don't feel like it I can have someone sent to look after you. If you think you are in need of it I can call now. Or if you are comfortable with it, I can arrange for you to be brought here."

"No, I don't want to be anywhere near there. I think I want to go home." The first part was nearly shouted but the second was almost a whine.

"I think it's best to stay where you can be looked after, but if you go back to New York I'd like to have someone there to watch out for you. This new criminal might know about that, but it's unclear so the best place for now is where you are or to come here."

"Then I'll stay here I don't want to be there."

"Alright, I'm going to send someone to watch out for you. I don't think you are in any immediate danger but just to be sure. Now can I call back if I need to? It is really important for us to have help."

"Okay" the answer was a bit hesitant.

"I'm going to let Tesla talk to you for a little bit then we have to get back to work. You were a lot of help." With that Hotch picked up the head piece and switched the speaker off. Tesla took the head piece from Hotch and put it to her ear.

"You did really good Brit, I know it was really hard. I want to you get some rest now okay. Talk with your family, don't shut them out. Remember what to do if you have nightmares." She listened for a minute after she spoke. "Good, now I have to go but If you really need it I'll be here until this is done. Keep safe Brit." After a moment she hung up the phone. Tesla sat back and sighed rubbing her hands over her face.

"Talking to your friend was like walking across a field trying to avoid land mines. I hope they all aren't like that or I might have to leave the talking to you. It's like being a lawyer again." Hotch sat back in his chair as well.

"No, she is sensitive, as well as some of the others, but they won't all be like that. You were a lawyer?"

"Yes I was a prosecutor, before I joined the F.B.I." Hotch looked over at Tesla.

They said nothing for a few moments before the silence was interrupted by JJ.

"I have a draft of a press release ready if we need it." She handed a piece of paper to Hotch and gave a weak smile at Tesla.

"Good, let's see if we can keep things under our control for a while longer" Hotch began reading the release.

**(Sorry for the wait and the short chapter but life gets busy. More kids, unsub and flashbacks coming up in the next few chapters. Thanks for hanging in there and reading and reviewing.)**


	19. the morgue

_**"Just go out there and do what you have to do." - **__**Martina Navratilova**_

"_**She would be a fantastic person to report on this. She was great at **__**getting**__** instant insights into people. She could sum up a person or a situation in a few **__**words**__**. And this would've been right up her alley.**__**" - **__**Steve Radlauer **_

He put Marcus in the backseat of the car and buckled him in as if he were any other person who was in need of help. He then took the wheel chair a ways from the car and wiped down where he had touched. Getting back to the car he started it and looked back at his former friend. "Time to go home" he said aloud and pulled out of the parking lot. He began to long drive to the place he'd picked out. Amy was waiting for them but he didn't want to get pulled over for speeding so he went just over the speed limit but not too high. If all went well he could have Marcus next to Amy and be back to get some work in before taking the trip to get his other friend. In two days the weekend would begin and he wanted all that time to play.

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Reid's ride to the morgue wasn't very long and he parked in the security and police parking. He entered the hospital and after showing his badge got the directions to the morgue. He went down and entered finding two people getting supplies ready and looking over schedules. He had been informed when he was at the front desk that they had changed shifts not long ago. The two men were both middle aged but one was slightly older than the other. The older man walked over to Reid and held out his hand in greeting.

"You must be the F.B.I. that called yesterday. So sorry I couldn't get back to you then but it's been a little busy lately. Mostly policy stuff however which I suppose is a good thing. Now what is it I can do for you?"

"I was wondering if I could go over some of the recent findings and compare them with the older reports. I have a more detailed record if you were unable to get all the files." Reid shifted from foot to foot.

"All right, that would take some time but I am free for a while. Why don't we go sit in my office, it's a little more private and I'd say slightly warmer." The man smiled a bit and pointed to a door at the back of the room. Reid nodded and they headed that way, when they got closer he could read the name on a plate on the wall next to the door. **Doctor Vincent White MD. PHD.** White as Reid now knew him opened the door and they went in. The office was small holding a battered desk, a total of three small chairs and file cabinets everywhere they would fit. There was a rack of shelves behind the desk that were full of books and jars. And true to his word it was a bit warmer then the morgue. "Please sit and we can get started" White sat down behind his desk.

"Thanks," Reid sat in the chair that was pulled slightly more up to the desk. "I have some of the older files and some of the newer files. I'd like to start with the newer ones."

"Of course, just a moment" White turned to a pile of folders on the corner of his desk and dug through them. "Ah, here we are" he pulled one to the top and began spreading it out. "Let see Marcus Tanner, white male, American, age 30, death by exsanguinations from a puncture wound to the chest. However there are signs that he was both beaten several times and drugged for at least three days. There are also small signs of mutilation. Who every your killer is though gave him a good last meal and dressed him in new cloths when he was buried. I would hazard a guess that he was washed before he was dressed and buried."

"I'd like to start with the drugs as that is what might have been used to subdue him. The file says there were two typed of over the counter downer drugs. One was a mild sleep aid, what was the other?"

"Odd as it sounds the other drug was Nyquil. However there was a lot in his system, he was given the maximum dosage each time it was about to wear off by my calculations."

"Alright, how about the beatings? The report and pictures noted two broken fingers, a broken wrist, arm, ankle, three bruised ribs, a lump on the back of his head and numerous smaller bruises."

"Yes, the oldest was the lump on his head, close to the base of the skull. It would have knocked him out for a while. The ribs were next, then the fingers and wrist. The arm was shortly after and the ankle last. My guess is he tried to get away from your killer when it happened, he had rashes from being scraped on the ground. I'm guessing in a tackle or fight, it would have happened right before he was stabbed."

"The mutilation, it says in the report that it was light, hesitant even. But that it followed older patterns. The older reports stated that he had been beaten and mutilated as a child. Could you help me understand how they are the same? If anything is different now from then that would be a big help."

"Well I only got the barest of notes from the first incident. Paperwork has been lost or destroyed or scattered since then and the technology and procedures back then were nothing like today. I do know that he received a broken arm from the first incident. It was the opposite arm from the one now. He had a sprained wrist, was malnourished and dehydrated. The mutilation was done with a knife and was deep enough to sink to the bone. There were several cuts to the chest, sides, back including shoulder blades and hip area. The wounds were slightly infected when he was rescued and he has the scars to remind him. That's all I can tell you about the past incident. To compare, he was cut along several of the scars, as if the killer wanted to reopen old would figuratively was well as literally. According to further records he didn't see a doctor much as he grew up so he have ordered x-rays before we autopsy. Both are scheduled for this afternoon."

"Thank you for going over the information with me, and I would appreciate it if you could give me a call when you are done today. I'd like to swing by and get a copy of the findings report and take a look at the x-rays."

"Of course, always glad to help, especially in a case like this."

"Is there a chance I could see the body before I leave?"

"Yes, I'll show you on the way out" White got up and so did Reid.

Reid waited till White had come around the desk and opened the door to follow him back into the chillier morgue. They walked over to a wall with several metal doors on it. As they got closer it got a little colder and faint humming could be heard. White went to a door with a case number on it and a last name. He opened the door and pulled on the tray inside and it came out rather quickly. The tray was empty. White looked confused and checked the door again before turning towards the other man in the room.

"Hey Sam did Carlos come for Mr. Tanner early?"

The other man, Sam looked over at White with a confused look on his face. "No, no one's been here but us and your guest.

"Okay," now White looked very confused. "Let me check the other drawers, we have a new intern and when we get really busy a body is sometimes put in the tray next to its assigned spot." White opened the doors around Tanner's and took a peek inside. When all the drawers were looked through he was looking nervous. "Hey Sam" she called back to his coworker. "Call up to radiology and see if they have Mr. Tanner."

Reid had begun to get a bad feeling when Tanner wasn't on the tray, now his stomach was beginning to clench. White began looking in all the doors as Sam went to make the call. Sam had come back as White finished looking in all the doors.

"Radiology said they didn't have him, he was scheduled for this afternoon but he's not there now." Sam looked nervous now too.

"Then call security because he's gone and dead bodies don't get up and walk away no matter how many movies are made like that." White rubbed his forehead as if he was getting a headache as Sam walked away again. He turned back to Reid "I am very sorry agent Reid but it looks like your killer is not just a sick man but a crazy one. I can't express to you how sorry I am but we will do everything we can to look for clues and help you find the person responsible for killing and taking Mr. Tanner's body." White did look and sound sorry but Reid could only nod at him, his brain already starting to work.

"I'll be back I need to call my boss" Reid said before retreating to the outer hall, pulling his cell phone out as he went. He hit speed dial one and waited as the phone rang on the other end.

"Hotchner," it was answered after the second ring.

"Hotch we got a problem," Reid tried not to rush his words hoping Tesla wouldn't overhear if she was still there.

**(Again sorry for a shortish chapter, lots going on but the next chapter is much longer and we start to find things out about why all this started and more key players pasts opened. More of the others as well not just one… Thanks for stick with me, hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading and reviewing.)**


	20. missing bodies

"_**I think when you **__**lose**__** a **__**child**__**, pretty much you're willing to do anything to get that **__**child**__** back or the memory of that **__**child**__** back, to actually cross that line, ... you're never quite sure. Do they just go into this kind of crazed insanity because of the pain? Or is it really true? It's a fine line.**__**" - Kim Raver**_

"_**The pain comes from knowing that we have never been safe, and therefore will never be safe again. It comes from knowing we can never be so ignorant again. It comes from knowing we can never be **__**children**__** again. **__**Losing**__** innocence. Remembering heaven. That was the essence of hell.**__**" - John Jakes**_

Hotch did not like the sound of Reid's voice at all when he picked up his phone. The statement he'd made didn't help Hotch's mood at all. He stood up and went out of the conference room so he wouldn't be heard, at least by the remaining team. "What do you mean there is a problem?" His voice was low.

"Tanner's body. It's gone. The ME checked all the tables and called to another lab but he's gone. They are still looking and security has been called." Reid informed him in a worried voice.

The head ache that had threatened with the phone call minutes ago was back with a vengeance. "Alright, stay there for a while. Help them if they need it. Gather any and all information they have and take it. Leave them the copies but if the unsub got in for Tanner it means he could come back again. I'll get Garcia to get into their security and help look. When you are done come back. I'll tell the others" Hotch instructed.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do. Bye" and Reid hung up.

Hotch shut his phone a little harder than necessary and took a calming breath. Normally not much got to him but this case was different. He had to focus to remain in control and he and the team would get through this. Then they would need a break. There case load had been heavy lately with no breaks. They needed to rebuild their walls and regroup. With that he headed back into the conference room. As he did Garcia came onto the computer screen.

"Good morning my doves, and junior clue solver" Garcia didn't sound quite as happy as usual and she looked a bit tired. She had been doing quite a bit of research for them on this case. "I have been up almost all night but I got something so you better be greatful" she mocked but Hotch knew she deserved any praise.

"What did you find Garcia?" Prentiss asked as she had been trying to put together what Garcia had already sent them.

"Well the original unsub a Jerry Wilder was from Colorado originally. When he and his family were on vacation his younger brother Kenneth was killed in an accident. He was slightly traumatized and it only got worse as he grew. When he grew old enough he moved to Nevada and dropped off the map for a while. The next step as far as I could find was his killing streak. Now most of the old files were lost in a flood first then a fire several years later. There were a few saved files, they were in storage but I made a few calls and they are on their way to you."

"Did you just say Kenneth?" Tesla moved closer to the screen.

"Yes" Garcia looked over her way.

"He talked about a Kenny. That we would all be friends. I just thought Kenny was another one of us kids." Tesla looked lost in thought for a moment.

"I think we just found his trigger" Prentiss said.

"Yeah but what was our copy cat? He can't know about Kenneth, it took me a ton of back tracking and browbeating to get that much. I don't even know what he died of just that it was an accident." Garcia waved around one of her fluffy topped pens. The sight of it seemed to bring Tesla back to herself and Hotch to clear his throat.

"That is all good work Garcia and as much as you deserve the break we need something else." Hotch knew now was a better time then later to get the latest news in. "I need you to go over the footage for the Las Vegas Hospital and morgue. I don't need to know how you do it, but I need you to do it right away. Go over all the footage and security you can get for the last twenty four hours."

"You want me to do that now! After I worked so hard to get you this? What did they do lose their precious saw or something?" Garcia was a little irritated.

"No they lost Tanner" Hotch spoke bluntly. He could hear Tesla sit down hard and JJ go over to her. Prentiss winced and Garcia gasped.

"Right on it sir" and she was gone. Despite being up for long hours she would be as good as her word. Hotch wouldn't be surprised if she was already into the hospitals system.

Hotch and Prentiss now turned to JJ and Tesla. Tesla was in a chair just barely with JJ holding her from slipping to the floor. Tesla was breathing rapid and shallow, JJ's hands on her shoulders leaning down to be close to eye level.

"Just take it easy I'm sure that Garcia and Reid will get this all figured out. He might still be at the hospital" JJ consoled her.

"Sure, I'm gonna get some water" Tesla got up on shaky legs and managed to wobble out of the room.

"Prentiss, call Rossi and Morgan. Let them know what happened, and do it fast before she comes back. JJ get a hold of Katherine Cole and Innocent Images Unit. Send her the list of victims we have so far and tell her to run the names personally as a favor to me. We need to find them and get them protection. If the unsub grabbed Tanner more than likely he is done with Amy too. He'll go after another victim any time. I'm going to talk to Walters about getting those phones for tip lines and an extra crew to run them." Hotch left and JJ and Emily got to work on their new assignments.

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Prentiss decided to call Morgan first, as he would be the farthest away and most likely to lose cell reception first up in the national park crime scene. He picked up after a few rings.

"Morgan," he sounded a bit distant and she figured he had answered by speaker phone to keep his hands free. "Oh" she heard a female voice which had to be Fisher.

"We got some new information for you. Our original unsub Jerry Wilder might have lived in the area around there. That's the good news, the bad news is the body of Tanner, the first new victim is gone. Most likely taken by the unsub so keep your eyes open when you are out there. With his dumping site compromised he might take a look at the old one." Prentiss informed him in a steady tone.

"Man this just keeps getting better," Morgan huffed. "Alright, thanks We'll keep an extra eye out. Keep me updated as long as you can. We're going to be headed into so forested area, I might lose reception."

"You got, talk to you later" Prentiss hung up. She then called Rossi but he didn't answer. Instead she got a different man.

"Agent Rossi's phone" the man who had to be deputy Nickles said.

"Nickles I need you to put me on speaker" Prentiss instructed. There were muffed sounds before everything became much clearer.

"What do you have Prentiss?" Rossi asked.

"Bad news and worse news I'm afraid. Bad first, we found the trigger for the first unsub. His brother was killed in an accident and he may have lived in the area up there."

"Okay and the worse news?" Rossi didn't sound happy.

"The first victim Tanner's body is gone. More than likely the unsub has it but we are still confirming."

"That's just wrong on so many levels. Do you think he'll be back to bury the body?" Nickels asked before Rossi could reply to Prentiss.

"Not likely but there is always a possibility. We'll just have to be extra cautious and vigilant." Rossi answered Nickels. "Is there anything else Prentiss?"

"No but keep in touch when you can and we'll update you on anything else we find."

"Good, We'll call as soon as we are done as well, tell you if we find anything. Talk soon, have to get back to the road it's getting a bit twisty up here." There was more muffled noise and the line went dead.

Prentiss hung up and went back to the papers she had been going through before. She pushed a lot of them out of the way and started pulling out the papers and files with victims names on them. She could help by learning about them, maybe narrow down who the next new victim might be. When she was done there wasn't much but it was better than nothing. First off was Michael Ray Dogette. He had been barely six when he was taken from the run down playground near his foster parent's trailer park home. He hadn't been reported missing for several hours. When rescued he was malnourished, dehydrated, and had been beaten. After a brief hospital stay he went back to his foster parents. A year later to another foster home and the trail broke up. A mention of him later in a junior high basketball championship game. Beginnings of a high school record, before the trail broke again. That was all on Michael Dogette. Another name was Brittany Mosley, but they knew what happened to her. They had heard her just a short time ago. Still a look into her past was important. She had been living with her single mother when she was taken from a picnic area in a park not far from the national forest. After being found much in the same condition as Michael but with a few extra cuts she and her mother moved. Her school records were transferred to Tennessee. Nothing notable till SAT's and an application to a college in New York that took a credit check. Not an ivy league school but a respectable one none the less. Nothing more on her but she appeared to have done well with herself.

"Prentiss can you get me a copy of the list of victims I can send to Katherine Cole?" JJ interrupted her reading.

"Sure" she said looking over at JJ who was on the phone, probably with Katherine. The phone she was on was the one provided and the cord didn't reach to the table where her files were. She got up and moved the files to JJ's reach. "I'm going to get coffee and check on Tesla. You want a cup?" JJ shook her head no and went back to Katherine. Prentiss left the room and headed towards the kitchen area looking at the closed door to Chief Walters's office as she went. She did not want to be in there right now.

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He had been driving for a good while now but he was almost there. "You will like this new place Marcus, it's even better then the last. And they won't find you and take you away again" he spoke allowed to his friend. Yes this place was indeed better then the last. It was in fact much like the first place they were supposed to have called home. Maybe it was a good thing Marcus had been found. No! No it wasn't but it had pointed him in a better direction. He smiled to himself as he pulled off the small road onto the almost nonexistent one that would take them to his cut off. From there he would have to carry Marcus for a bit to the final spot but it would be worth it. Amy would be glad to see them and greatful to have company. He would like to stay longer then the time it would take to put Marcus to rest but he had things to do. Besides he would be back with another friend soon enough.

Katherine Cole and Innocent Images Unit was the agent and unit the team worked with in the episode p911 about a boy being sold on the internet. Katherine used to work for the BAU.

_**(Sorry for such the long wait but life has dealt a few hard blows with the end of the year and beginning of the new one. Whenever you get ahead something always wants to push you back December the 10**__**th**__** has been banned. Anyway thank you for hanging in there for the time I was gone. I hope you enjoyed reading I will have another chapter up soon. Feel free to review or not.)**_


	21. bad news

"_**Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of **__**bad**____**news**__**, which follows its own rules**__**" - **__**Douglas Adams **_

"_**There's good **__**news**__** and **__**bad**____**news**__**. We're definitely nowhere near being out of the woods.**__**" - **__**Cynthia Ogden **_

Not long after the call from Prentiss, Morgan and Fisher made a brief stop at the last ranger station before heading into the old crime scene zone. They left a note on the bulletin board telling who they were and where they were going marking it with the date and time. Morgan also took a few pictures of any other notices just in case. "You gotta use the bathroom before we go, now would be a good time." Morgan looked over at Fisher who was studying a map tacked to the wall showing the local trails. They had both had water on the way up and he for one would go before leaving. But once they were out there if worst came to worst he could walk off into the trees, Fisher not so much. Not that the thought of going out in the woods was a pleasant one.

"Um, yes, I'll be right back," Fisher said and she hurried out the door to the public restrooms just outside the station house.

Morgan took a quick look at the map himself before heading out as well. He made quick use of the facilities and met Fisher back next to the SUV. Let's get going we still have a ways ahead of us." They climbed back in and started down a bumpy dirt road, after driving a while the road got narrower. "Hey pull out the GPS will you? I got the co-ordnance to the scene to put in otherwise we might be out here a bit longer than expected." Morgan was glancing around as he spoke as if looking for something. Usually Reid was his au-natural human GPS but he was occupied with his own assignment at the moment.

"Sure" Fisher looked around the cab before finding the GPS in the small drawer under her seat. Turning it on she waited for it to warm up and turned to face Morgan. "I'm ready if you have the co-ordnance."

"They should be in the folder here, a page or two in" Morgan made a quick reach for a folder on the consol between them. He handed it over immediately so he could have both hands on the wheel in the rough terrain. He could hear Fisher flipping the pages then fiddling with the GPS.

"Alright I think I got it. Yep okay, there appears to be a service road on the left about a mile up we need to take." When she had Morgan's file she noticed it was quite a bit thicker then what she and her fellow officers had. "Do you mind if I look through this?" She had the decency to realize that there could be some very personal hand notes in the file. Some cops and detectives wrote down personal things they didn't want shared and only reported facts. After all most of the time feelings and thoughts were left out of the case for court. What mattered was facts and evidence, but that didn't mean that was the only things in case files or personal logs.

"Sure, just don't make us miss any important directions" Morgan answered not even looking over at her.

**CMCMCMCMCMCM**

"This guy is seriously messed up" Nickels said after he hung up the phone.

"This whole case is messed up," Rossi sounded slightly annoyed. Rossi didn't have any kids himself and after three marriages and numerous flings it was a miracle he didn't, but cases with kids were hard. Especially one like this where the unsub was going after kids who had already been victimized. It reminded him of one of his first cases, one he had just solved in the not too distant past. Alloying himself a second to think about the three now grown kids he decided he would check in on them when he got back. Tucking that plan away for later he set his mind back on this case.

"Do you really think there could be a possibility that our guy might come back to rebury the body?" Nickels wondered. He was turned slightly towards Rossi waiting for an answer.

Rossi tilted his head slightly as he gave Nickels question some thought. Some unsubs had been known to do so or something similar in the past even if the dump or kill site had been disturbed. Would this unsub be like that? "There is always the slim possibility, but I don't think so with this unsub. If it were the case he might have taken the victims to the original dump zone or very close to it. Retaking the victim's body not only shows his perceived closeness to the body but an indication that he doesn't want us to have it. More than likely he has a new place streaked out, one that will be harder to find then his first, or even the original if we can find it at all."

Nickels seemed to think on this for a while as they drove on in silence. Finally he nodded to himself as if fitting it all into place or just accepting this. "But even still we should be on the lookout, maybe search the surrounding area."

"Yes, always be on guard when out in the open like this with a repeat dumping ground unsub. And that is a very good idea to search the areas close by." Rossi gave a small nod of his own. Just then they passed a sign telling them the last ranger station on this road was about four miles ahead. "Do you need a stop?" Rossi asked Nickels.

"No I think I'll be alright."

"Good, then you can hook up that GPS thing we got for finding our way around. Sooner we get there the sooner we can try and find something that will help us catch his guy."

**CMCMCMCMCMCM**

Garcia was typing slower than usual she was so tired, but her team needed her. This case was so important, well all cases were important, but this one was special. And she would not let her team down for anything. And if that meant living off catnaps, half stale crackers from the vending machine and a continuous supply of watery cups of office coffee then so be it. She was looking into the background of the accidental death of Kenneth Wilder while waiting for the security from the hospital to upload, when she was startled by a hand on her shoulder. Spinning quickly about to lash out at her intruder she came face to face with Kevin.

Hey easy there Pen, it's just me" he gave her a weak smile and held up both hands in surrender.

"Don't do that, you know better" she snapped as she glared at him her heart rate slowing down from its momentary jump start. She was not in the mood for anything other than getting this case closed quickly. That meant adding not spending time with her boyfriend to her list of things that she would live without for a while. "You have to go I'm working" she softened her voice this time.

"Okay, then I take it you don't want this?" He took a paper plate off a shelf next to him and held it out. "When you didn't come out for your usual breaks or lunch I thought you might like something." The plate held a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into two diamonds with slices of cucumbers and a few baked potato chips on the side.

She now felt bad for snapping at him earlier. He knew she was on a case and wouldn't stop by for just nothing, and he had knocked she was just in a working zone and didn't notice. "That is so sweet, I'm sorry I got mad. And you made it just more me the way I like it" she took the plate with a smile. So much better than the crackers from the vending machine.

"Of course anything to help my busy little worker" he gave her a big smile. But it almost disappeared when she got a surprised look which turned into a smug smile as her eyes lit up. He recognized that look as one she got whenever she got a crazy idea or crafty plan.

"You have been very helpful my love. If fact you may be more helpful then you planned on being. Hold that." She pushed the plate of food back at him. He barely got a hold of it before she spun back to face her main console. She started typing with one hand and working the phone with the other. She hit a few buttons and a speed dial number and moved that hand to type on another keyboard. "Hotch," she began talking as the other end of the line was picked up. "I know you want most of this case kept on the low but I may need some help and I want Kevin." She was very direct and switched back to one keyboard while she talked. "Yes I understand but things will get done twice as fast and we can gather more than if I do it alone. Also he can spot things I might miss if I get overwhelmed. I will sir, thank you sir." She reached over to hang up the phone, typed a few more rapid commends into the consol and turned back to Kevin who had been standing there silent and confused. "Sit" she commanded as she pulled the chair from the desk next to hers. And plate in hand Kevin sat not saying anything. "We have much work to do" she smiled and took the plate back.

**CMCMCMCMCMCM**

JJ decided to use the office phone provided by the department to make her call when she noticed her call battery needed to be charged. She would do it later when they were done with their tasks and she could look for her charger. Picking up the stationary phone she scrolled through her old contacts on her cell for Katherine's number. The phone only rang twice before it was picked up. "Katherine this is Jennifer Jareau from the BAU, we need to talk" she started.

Katherine Cole did not expect to hear from anyone one in the BAU, especially their media liaison Jennifer Jareau. They had worked together before to resolve a case that had been haunting her. The experience had been as pleasant as could be given the circumstances but she knew firsthand how hard their job could be sometimes. Whatever Jennifer need to talk about or the BAU needed her for could not be good. But she was always there to help when anyone needed that went double for anyone of the BAU. "Yes, JJ I remember. What can I do for you?"

"Hotchner wants to ask you for a personal favor" JJ was very frank. There was a pause on the other end of the line.

"What can I do for Aaron?" Katherine replied moments later.

JJ smiled on her end and looked down at the list of names Prentiss had handed her. "I have a list of names we need some help with. They were children that were the victims of an unsub several years ago. There is a copy cat out there hunting them down. We know where some of them are but not all of them. If you could look up their names and try to find any images of them or locate them that would help. No one else can get a hold of these names you understand. I have a picture here of some of them if it will help. Also I am not sure if you were aware but Gideon has left the BAU. He went off the grid but I was wondering if there was any way you could look for his image anywhere. It's really important that you do this personally and alone."

"Of course, I will do my best" Katherine reassured her sympathy hanging heavy on her words. "You said you had a list of names, why don't you tell me. I may need the picture later but I'll start with the names. I'll get back to you as I find the information."

"Thank you, we really appreciate this" JJ could hear Katherine moving papers around.

"I'm ready for those names."

"Alright first is Michael Ray Dogette," JJ began. "Then there is Raymond King, Heather Hill, Lilly Hill, Bradley Bicnner, William Langley, Gretchen Green, Carlos Sansden, Tegan Costler, and Colin Littles." JJ finished off the list waited.

"That is quite the list but I will get on it right away. I'll can you back soon, and I hope you get your killer very soon." Katherine hung up not waiting for JJ's reply.

JJ hung up on her end and sighed. Finding her small travel bag she dug through it for her charger. With things beginning to pick up she would need to stay in touch with the team in the field and any sources they might call in. She plugged it in before she moved back to her spot at the table and was making a last minute check on her news brief when Tesla, Prentiss and Hotch walked back in.

**CMCMCMCMCMCM**

Hotch went straight to Chief Walters office when he left the conference room. The door was cracked open and Hotch could see Walters at his desk writing. Knocking he opened the door as Walters looked up. He walked in and closed the door before moving in front of the desk.

"I take it you have something new" it wasn't a question Walters stated as he set aside his work.

"We do, the unsub has taken Marcus Tanner's body from the morgue. I've got two of my team looking into it as we speak. I would like to set up a tip hotline for after the press release. We'll need volunteers to help out. It's highly probable the unsub has finished with his latest victim and will soon get another if he hasn't already."

"That's not the kind of news I want to hear but I'll get you those phones and some volunteers. We set up tip lines all the time so I can have everything set up in a little under two hours. But be prepared for a lot of those volunteers to want to show up for your briefing. Most of the ones who will come in are pros at this and will want to know what they are dealing with and what to look for." Walters had a disgusted look on his face and shook his head as he spoke. "This case just keeps getting worse and we're hardly on it. If you need any more help just ask, this kind of thing happening once was bad enough."

"I might just take you up on that, and I'll keep you informed." As Hotch spoke his phone rang. He looked at it and saw Garcia's ID. "Hotchner" he answered turning away from Walters.

"Hotch, I know you want most of this case kept on the low but I may need some help and I want Kevin." Garcia said.

"Then the less people who know the better, and I am sure Kevin is busy with his own cases" Hotch answered.

"Yes I understand but things will get done twice as fast and we can gather more than if I do it alone. Also he can spot things I might miss if I get overwhelmed" Garcia reasoned with him.

He thought about it for a moment and saw that she was right. "You keep him in your office, nothing leaves there. And brief him on the case so he understands why it's important to keep things to himself. Anything goes wrong or leaks out to Strauss I know where to look."

"I will sir, thank you sir." Garcia assured him and hung up.

Hotch hung up his phone and turned back to Walters. "If you would let me know when you have the tip line ready we can include the number in the press statement. I need to go check on my team and coordinate more interviews."

"I understand, I'll inform you when we get things together. Good luck on those interviews, I don't envy you there." Walters opened a drawer to his desk and started rummaging around.

Taking that as a sign that they were done Hotch left, leaving the door cracked like it was when he arrived. On his short walk back to the conference room he ran into Prentiss and Tesla. They all walked in together to see JJ at work at the table.

**CMCMCMCMCMCM**

Prentiss left the room and not seeing Tesla at the water fountain across the bullpen made her way to the break room. From the doorway she could see Tesla standing at the sink a cup in hand starting at the faucet.

"The cup won't fill itself you know" she said as she entered.

Tesla looked up at her and then down at the cup in her hand. She then proceeded to stick the cup under the faucet and fill it. But she didn't drink she just held it and looked down into it. "Why would he do that? Take Marcus's body, hasn't he done enough?" Her voice was angry but her face showed that she was confused as well.

"That I can't tell you for sure, but we will find him again" Prentiss walked to her side.

"Will we?" Tesla looked at her at last.

"I have faith that we will. Why don't we go back to the conference room now, I am sure there is something we can do to take your mind off that for a while."

"More phone calls" she looked back down at her cup.

"I suspect so but it's all for a good reason. If we can warn your friends and see that they get help if they need it then it will be worth it to call them."

"I just wish there wasn't a reason to call them even know most of haven't talked in a year or more. They don't even know why I'm calling besides Amy who is missing, William and Colin." She then dumped the cup out over the sink and set the cup in the drying rack next to the sink without drinking from it.

"Not so thirsty after all" Prentiss raised an eyebrow at Tesla's actions.

"No, I need something stronger then water but I can wait till this is over." Tesla looked at her again now with determination.

"I think you won't be the only one by the time this is over" Prentiss understood. "Let's go back" she then lead Tesla out of the break room and back to the conference room meeting Hotch half way. JJ was already off the phone when they entered.

**CMCMCMCMCMCM**

Reid and Dr. White checked the whole of the morgue again with the assistance of Sam. When Marcus's body was still unaccounted for White checked with security. His body had not been found on the main floors and radiology was checked again. Dr. White was slightly angry as well as embarrassed and ashamed that a body from his morgue was missing. "I can't tell you enough how sorry I am" he explained to Reid as they finally retreated to his office after their search.

"I'll need all your original files on this case and the body as a precaution if the unsub tries to come back. I can leave you copies but those will need to kept in a locked secure location." Reid looked at White who sat heavily in his chair.

"I understand, I only need copies of a few papers" White turned and took the files from their place in a file cabinet. He went out to the lab, Reid following and used an old copy machine that was tucked into a corner by the door. Once the copies were made White handed the files to Reid "I really hope you get this man soon and recover the body."

Reid nodded, "We are doing our best. But you must know that by now we think there will be two bodies to recover."

"That is disheartening news, but when you do find them we will be sure to have extra security here and I will take the best care with them" White offered reassuringly.

"I'm sure we will be in touch soon" Reid said as a good bye and left the morgue and after leaving his number with the security office he left the hospital. He had been there a few hours but it was still early enough he hadn't missed the press conference. He headed back to the station to meet with the rest of the team and go over any new evidence or insights.

_**(I feel like am saying sorry every chapter but RL can suck sometimes but I am happy to be healthy and have a new working computer with a few files I managed to save from the old one. Anyway, hope you liked the chapter; the next one will be posted next Friday (the 13**__**th**__** lol) and will contain some action! Also flashbacks will be in the following chapters. More on the children and the next victim as well. I will be updating every Friday for the next 4 weeks. Feel free to review.)**_


	22. asking questions

"_**Everybody **__**asks**__** the same **__**questions**__**, and to tell the truth, nobody remembers. We were kids. People **__**ask**__** how have things changed, and I say, 'I don't know.' I wasn't paying any attention to that.**__**" - **__**Norma Norwood **_

"_**If you do not **__**ask**__** the **__**right**____**questions**__**, you do not get the **__**right**__** answers. A **__**question**____**asked**__** in the **__**right**__** way often points to its own answer. **__**Asking**____**questions**__** is the A-B-C of diagnosis. Only the inquiring mind solves problems.**__**" - **__**Edward Hodnett **_

It only took Morgan and Fischer another hour to reach the cutoff point to where they would have to travel by foot to the old crime scene. Mostly it was due to terrain and their inexperience with the area that made them so slow. Taking the GPS as well as stocked backpacks and the case file with them they set out on the short trek to the site. It didn't take long to reach the spot they were looking for. They almost had missed it however as it was vastly different from how it had looked back in 1986. But that was nature for you, always growing and changing. Also the shack that had been the place of nightmares was now gone. All that was left of it was the broken up foundation, part of a wall, and some of the larger heavier wooden beans and pieces most of it charred. A note in the file said that a year or so after the case someone had come up and set fire to the shack. They were careful to wet the area around it and do it when it was colder so the fire wouldn't spread. They could never prove who had done it but they all had bets of family members or family friends of the survivors.

"Let's look for any recent activity that might be caused by humans" Morgan said flipping through his file and pulling out a few papers. He handed two of them to Fisher and kept two for himself. Fisher glanced at them to see they were pictures from the first case and one of the aftermath of the arson. "Why don't you check the North and East, I'll cover South and West." Fisher nodded and they separated to start looking.

Morgan started by going over to a tall tree that was more or less thirty yards from the southwest corner of where the shack had stood. He did a full slow 360 taking in what he saw and comparing it to the mental pictures he had of what the place used to look like. He noted what had gone missing, what had grown or changed and what would have drawn the unsub here with its advantages and disadvantages. The main things were the shack now missing, the trees and shrubs were bigger further hiding the scene from both aerial and hiking view. He tried to put his mind into that of the unsubs for the next part. There was a hill to the southeast blocking any view from where the SUV was, a dipping valley to the northwest offered a line of site towards the main park and last ranger station, a creek ran by to the west. All these were advantages for him but there was little in the way of disadvantage except the remoteness of the location and lack of loose soil to bury a body. That was probably the reason why they had found his victims about half a mile west closer to the river where past flash floods had built up layers of loose dirt. He wished the shack was still here even if it would have been dilapidated by now. He wanted to walk the scene and try to put all the pieces together for himself. There were no pictures in the file with the inside of the shack although they would have been taken then. With that done he focused on finding signs of recent activity in the area. Since he had already done a 360 sweep he decided to do a line sweep. Looking over he saw Fisher doing the same thing on her end. Walking back over to where the shack used to be he began moving out systematically right to left for a good sixty or so yards. He was off in the trees when Fisher came up to him.

"I didn't find anything other the small animal tracks" she stood and waited for him to complete his line.

"Nothing for me either. If our copycat was here it was some time ago but the ground isn't exactly conducive to keeping tracks well so it's hard to tell."

"As creepy as it would have been I wish that shack was still here so we could take a look" Fisher said as the started back to where it had been.

"Yeah I know what you mean, but we did get some insight. I doubt our unsub has been back here, at least recently. And if you compare the two scenes his and first unsub you will see they think alike. Both chose out of the way places with surroundings that made them isolated and not easily found or approachable without being seen." Morgan pointed out the values of the place as Fisher looked at the places he noted. "Let's head back now with the slow going I don't want to be late for giving the profile."

Fisher looked at her watch noting they had been there a little over an hour already. "Sounds good to me" they started the hike back to the SUV. Stowing their bags they got in and began the ride back down to the main road. When they got there Morgan had Fisher call Hotch to tell them they were on their way back.

**CMCMCMCMCMCM**

The ride to the scene was fairly easy until the last mile or so for Rossi and Nickels. There the terrain got rougher but was still easily travelable.

"A lot of different kinds of cars can get up here" Nickels commented looking around.

"Yeah I noticed but what kind of cars would help us not all are alike."

"SUV's, Outbacks, Jeeps, Hummers, Trucks, maybe one of the newer Dodge vans. With all this MPG change up some cars are being turned utility to save a few gallons." Nickels rambled off a mental list of vehicles that could reach their destination..

"I'm impressed" Rossi smiled at the list Nickels gave him.

"My dad was a part time mechanic, always with the car talk. Wanted us to know what was out there should we ever decide to try our hand."

Besides directions nothing more was said until they got to their cut off point. It wasn't too hard to find where to park as there was still a small bit of yellow crime tape tied round a tree. After they parked Nickels handed the GPS over to Rossi as he got the bags that were kept in the back of the SUV.

"The scene should be around that hill about half a mile so it's going to be a bit of a walk. Now let's go see what we can see and try and get a few more pieces to this puzzle." Rossi lead the way after accepting a bag from Nickels. They made relatively good time despite having to zig zag around some old fallen trees and piles of rocks. When they reached the scene they found more yellow tape tired to more trees and a small line sunken into the earth.

"Well I guess we won't have to look for when the unsub buried the body." Rossi looked around before approaching the shallow grave that had been until recently occupied. Nickels followed keeping his eyes on the ground noting any tracks. "What do you see?" Rossi asked when they stood by its side.

Nickels crouched down for a better look and he moved away from Rossi for another angle before answering. "There is still some blood mixed in with the dirt and a lot of bugs. Not a lot of dirt though" he stood back up and looked at Rossi.

"That's because it got washed away" Rossi pointed to a spot on the other side of Nickels. "As you can see there are a lot of rocks out here, not a lot of dirt, so our unsub had to dig. What dirt there is is from the hill, sliding off as the rocks up top weather. That worked for our unsub but it was also his disadvantage. When it rained all the water ran down hill and mixed with what was collecting here to wash away that dirt. This spot is somewhat isolated but it's too close to the paths out here and that is why when the dirt came off and the body was uncovered it drew attention with the victim's cloths."

"So if it hadn't rained recently the hikers might not have found the body." Nickels looked around trying to imagine said hikers coming here and finding the victim.

"Right, no one might have found the body for a long time and it could have turned up years from now if at all. But the unsub has learned from this mistake and the place he has certainly picked now will avoid the dangers of flood from a hill or dirt being washed away."

"There are a lot of tracks here do you think any of them could belong to or killer?" Nickels shifted his attention away from the empty grave.

"Hard to tell without knowing who had what shoe prints but let's see if we can find any fresh marks. You go that way" Rossi pointed to his right "and I'll cover over here" he indicated his left. They separated and began looking at all the prints they could find.

"I'm not expert but I don't think any of these are fresh" Nickels called to him a few minutes later. He was on the far side of the scene and making his way towards Rossi.

"I'll have to agree with you although I have a little experience with track, none of what I saw was fresh. I suggest we head back now, we have a ways to go and the profile release isn't too far off. I'd like to compare notes one more time with my team before then."

"Will it be the same you gave us?" Nickels asked as they headed back to the SUV.

"Close, with what we gathered here and Morgan and Fisher's notes along with Reid's discovery we have a few more things to sort out. Despite what looks like a dead end we have just narrowed down the profile from the basic we gave you."

"So we'll catch this guy soon?"

"I'm afraid it won't be as soon as we'd like but we are closing in."

The rest of the walk to the SUV and ride back into the city were silent except for a check in with Hotch.

** CMCMCMCMCMCM **

"I got Walters started on setting up tip lines, he said they would be ready by the time we do our brief and press release. JJ make sure to include that for the release" Hotch said once he and Prentiss with Tesla entered the conference room.

"I've already got a part worked out for that I just need the number they will be using" JJ handed him a copy of her work. Hotch skimmed it and handed it back. "I also got a hold of Katherine and she has agreed to help us on a personal matter. I expect a call back before you give the profile."

"That is good, I've also talked to Garcia and have agreed to let her have Kevin help her out. She will fill him in on the importance of keeping this quite. In the mean time Tesla do you feel ready to make another phone call?" Hotch turned his attention to where Tesla and Prentiss had sat down.

"I guess, who is it you want to call next?" Tesla didn't look all that interested but she would go on.

Hotch pulled out the list and looked it over. He decided to just start at the top now. The first name was Gretchen Green. There were two numbers next to her name, one of them was crossed out. "Gretchen is first" he handed the list to Tesla.

"GG, haven't talked to her in a while. She was one of us who wanted to put the past away and just move on. She won't be like Brit" Tesla pulled the phone they have used before closer to her. Again making sure it was on speaker mode she rapidly punched in the number. However instead of ringing the got an automated message saying the number was disconnected. Tesla hung up and dialed again and got the same result. "I… um I guess she moved or something." Tesla wouldn't look at Hotch as she ran a finger over the number on the page. "I haven't spoken to her in a good year so I guess she forgot."

"It happens, we can have Garcia try and find her" Prentiss stepped in before Hotch could say anything.

"That's fine, let's move on. Who is next on the list?" Hotch was calm about the situation as he knew things could change. And Tesla had warned him that she didn't have all the victim's numbers. This was just one more they didn't have.

"Bradley Bicnner is next, he was one of the oldest of us" Tesla looked at the list. She then dialed the number and they waited while the phone rang.

"Bicnner residence," came a woman's voice after a few rings.

"Hello, my name is Tesla I am looking for Bradley."

"Brad isn't here right now. He's on assignment for the next week and hard to reach, but I can take a message for him."

"On assignment are you sure? He's not missing is he?"

"No he is not, what is this about? Is Brad in any trouble?" The woman's voice sounded worried.

"It's about a police case he was involved in years ago and it's important that he calls me as soon as possible. I have a number he can reach me at."

"Alright, just…let me get a pen" ruffling was heard on the other end. At the same time Tesla looked to Hotch and he wrote down a number on a slip of paper and gave it to her. "I'm ready now" the woman was back.

"The number is 202-957-8701, please have him call as soon as possible thank you."

"I will, is that all?"

"Yes, thanks. Goodbye." Tesla hung up. "Last I spoke to him Bradley was trying to become a reporter. I guess he got the job" she looked to Hotch who nodded.

"Let's try the next name on the list." He mentally added a note to get Garcia to locate him. But before they could Hotch's phone rang. "Hotch" he answered. "Alright we will see you in a while" he hung up. "That was Morgan, he and Fisher are on their way back from the original crime scene."

"That was fast" Prentiss shook her head.

"It's been over two and a half hours it just doesn't feel that long" JJ pointed at the clock.

"I guess you're right, I just thought we'd be farther along." Prentiss stood up from her seat "I'm going to go see if they have the phones set up yet while we wait for Morgan" she walked out of the room.

"You know if we can't get in contact with the people on my list we could look up the original offices on the case. There was a social worker too who helped sort out who we where and where we were supposed to go after we got out of the hospital." Tesla suggested after Prentiss had left fiddling with the sheet of names and phone numbers.

"We usually do that but getting a hold of your friends and the unsubs potential victims is a priority. We can locate the officers who worked on the old case tomorrow" JJ answered.

"I understand, I see you have all the bases covered" Tesla nodded.

"Don't worry that is our job" JJ smiled and the door opened then taking her attention away from Tesla. They all looked to see Reid walk in, a folder open in his hand so he had to nudge the door shut with his elbow.

He stopped when he saw them all looking at his and cleared his throat. "I got the original files like you asked me."

"Good, Go over then again, try and see if there is anything that was missed. Also compare it to what we have of the older medical files." Hotch instructed and turned his attention back to Tesla and the phone.

Reid sat down at the table away from Hotch and Tesla, closer to JJ to give them space and started flipping the pages quickly as he read.

Again Hotch's phone rang before he could restart with Tesla. "Hotch. Got it see you then." He hung up, "Rossi and Nickels are on their way back. We can go over anything they found when they get back."

"Let's give this another try" Hotch put the phone between him and Tesla on speaker. Tesla dialed and they waited. The phone rang only two times before it was picked up.

"Hello?" a sleepy man's voice asked.

"Is this Michael Dogette?" Tesla spoke.

"Yes it is and before you go on I don't want to buy anything and I give to the church" Michael said before yawning.

"Um that's fine but not why I am calling. My name is Tesla Ward, do you remember me?"

The line was quite for a moment "Nevada" was muttered a moment later.

"Yes, that is what I am calling about. I am in Las Vegas with the FBI and we are looking into the old case. There is a copy cat killer and I wanted to warn you as well as interview you."

"Warn me? About what? And what could you possibly want to know that you don't already. There has got to be a case file somewhere, god knows they asked us enough questions" Michael sounded a little angry.

"Well the copy cat is going after the surviving original victims and we are trying to get every angle on the old case."

"Shit" Michael breathed and they heard movement. "Alright ask your questions now because when you hang up I will be gone."

Tesla looked at Hotch with a stunned worried look and shrugged her shoulders.

"Michael I am Special Agent Hotchner, I am working with Tesla. We need to know what you remember about the time you were held by the unsub."

"Unsub? I don't know what that is but I can tell you a little about the rest. Well I don't remember half of it as I didn't want to but I was taken from my school. It was after hours, I didn't get the best look at the guy then. He took he to some rotting barn or shack or something in the woods. Forgot how long I was there as I just wanted to keep myself alive. I was with some girl and there were others. The guy knocked us around quite a bit when he was there, cut us sometimes, didn't feed us. Told us we were going to go somewhere, be friends and some stuff, talked to himself a lot about being happy. Again, didn't pay too much attention and if I did I don't really remember. I knew he was killing us kids but again I was just trying to not get attention and live. Cops showed up eventually and rescued us, after a trip to the hospital I went into the foster care system. That's it unless you got something else you want to ask" Michael was precise, his voice holding little emotion while the sound of things being moved littered the background.

"No that was good Michael, but may I ask where you are going?" Hotch was writing down as much of what Michael had said as possible.

"Out of town" Michael huffed.

"Alright, but if you remember anything else or need any help I want you to call. The number is 202-957-8701, someone will answer at any time. Do you need me to repeat the number?" Hotch finished writing and leaned towards the phone.

"No I got it" Michael replied.

"Thank you Michael and be careful" Tesla said right before the line went dead. "I remember him being more charming the last time we spoke." Tesla hung up her end and sat back in her seat. Before anyone could comment Prentiss walked in leaving the door open.

"They got the phones set up and a few of the volunteers are arriving. I've got the number they will be using here and Walters suggested you put together a scrip and some questions for the volunteers to ask the callers." Prentiss faced JJ as she spoke then turned to Reid who had finished the medical files he had picked up and now had the old ones out in front of him. "Welcome back Reid."

"I'll be right back" JJ got up and taking her note pad with her left closing the door behind her.

"I suggest we wait for the others to get back and we discuss what we know before calling anyone else." Hotch closed the folder in which he had been taking notes.

"Sounds good to me" Tesla agreed with Hotch. Maybe there would be fewer interruptions after everyone was back. Prentiss sat down and they just waited for JJ to get back from her errand. Rossi and Morgan were due back soon and things would pick up again. Tesla had to marvel at how fast the team actually worked. It didn't take long before JJ returned and not long after for Morgan to arrive followed shortly by Rossi.

"Alright now that everyone is back lets share and put the profile together. We have forty-five minutes before we talk to the officers here and two hours before JJ has to give the press release. Reid you go first" Hotch started the discussion.

**CMCMCMCMCMCM**

After having worked the rest of the afternoon and eating a late dinner because he had been caught up in that work to notice the time he began to pack. He would only be gone for a day but one could never be too prepared. He also had to pack up his special kit that held what he would need for acquiring his friend. Raymond King or Ray as Raymond would sound to informal would be happy to see him he was sure. He hadn't really gotten to know the boy years ago but he could remedy that now. He would leave after breakfast and hopefully reach the small town where Ray lived in Idaho by late afternoon. It would give him a little time to put everything in place and eat while he waited. He had eaten at the café Raymond worked at the first time we was there and it was good. He had stayed and watched for two days while he gathered information and checked sources. It was the right Raymond he was looking for, the young man having worked at the eatery for some time. And it didn't look like he would be leaving anytime soon until he decided he wanted to have Raymond join him and his friends. He finished packing in no time and took his bags out to the car. He checked the car over to make sure it was ready for the trip, he wanted no delays. Then it was a hot shower and falling asleep to the thoughts of what to do over the weekend with his friend. But while he slept his thoughts changed and his dreams took a darker turn.

_Pain, he remembered the pain. The pain from the hits the man had given him and the hunger pains. He hadn't eaten in a little over two days now and his stomach cramped. The little girl next to him was crying again. He wished she would stop, that there was something he could do to make her stop. The man had said that they were all going to be friends and they were going to be happy together and soon they were going to someplace nice. But he wasn't happy and he wanted to be at the nice place. Soon, that was what the man had said but he wanted it now. He would take the little girl with him and stop her crying. After all isn't that what friends did?_

_**(Sorry for the late post but my computer has not been the best and some of my files are still messed up, but a day late is better than …even later. The phone numbers are fake. Hope you enjoyed, more Gideon special appearance in the next chapter and a flashback or two…and some actual leg work. Also the profile is given in the next chapter. Feel free to review.)**_


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